Celebrating women in the agricultural sector
To celebrate women’s month the Western Cape Department of Agriculture recently held its award ceremony for the top performing women within the agricultural sector within the area. These women are being celebrated for their impactful contribution to the sector and their communities.
The Western Cape Department of Agriculture recently celebrated women in farming by holding its annual Female Entrepreneur Awards Ceremony in Stellenbosch on the eve of Women’s Day 2019. The ceremony acknowledges the many hard-working women with in the agricultural sector and the role that they play in food security and in growing local economy.
The competition which is held is a joint venture between the South African National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, also known as DAFF as well as the provincial Department of Agriculture. The competition aims to reward the efforts and the contribution of women in various sectors such as job creation, economic growth and poverty alleviation.
The provincial winners will be entered into the national competition which will be held on the 29th of August 2019 in Cape Town. Provincial category winners will also be competing for the coveted national awards at the event.
The Minister of Agriculture, Ivan Meyer said: “The Female Entrepreneur Awards creates an enabling environment for women to progress from subsistence and smallholder producers to commercial entrepreneurs. Tonight we recognize their contributions to the sector, we celebrate their tenacity and achievements and honour the role that women play, not only in the agricultural sector, but also in the broader society.”
The winners were:
BEST FEMALE WORKER: Winner – Ntombesisa Mpendukana.
Ntombesisa of Philadephia Chicks has displayed a remarkable understanding and knowledge of fertile egg production. Key facets of her responsibilities include feed and water level control as well as biosecurity which ensures that all aspects of egg production are strictly adhered to. This ensures that customers are provided with the best quality eggs on a daily basis.
TOP ENTREPRENEUR: SUBSISTENCE PRODUCER: Winner – Zoleka Gomo.
Zoleka Gomo’s runs Women for Peace which is a project that focuses on food security and organic vegetable production in Mfuleni which contributes to community development through skills training for women. It also helps unemployed youth and school going children between 6-18 years old. The soup kitchen and food garden programme has also led to a substantial decrease in the high rate of crime in the area.
TOP ENTREPRENEUR: SMALL HOLDER - Winner - Annique Smith.
Annique of A&BP Honey Bee (Pty) Ltd began her honey and pollination business with only five hives but with hard work and dedication she has quickly grown her bee pollination business to 188 hives. She rents hives to farmers to pollinate their apples and pears and currently produces about 1-ton of honey per year. The honey is sold to local markets in the area.
TOP ENTREPRENEUR: PROCESSING: Winner – Daphne Neethling.
Daphne runs the PaardenKloof Estate (Pty) Ltd. PaardenKloof is a wine farm which creates exceptional wines. With its held-back vintages scheduled for release after a period of maturation. The red wines are released after a five-year maturation period and the white wines after 18 months in the bottle. Varietals include Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. All the wines are registered with SAWIS as single vineyard wines.
TOP ENTREPRENEUR: COMMERCIAL: Winner – Marilyn Siegels.
Marilyn of Nitaflo (Pty) Ltd, Protea PLAS Farm fruit production. The project consists of 24.68ha of bearing orchards consisting of 12.44ha of apples and around 12.24ha of plums. In October 2018 the farm successfully established 14.6ha of apples. The Nitaflo farm also holds a gold Global GAP accreditation as well as a platinum SIZA certificate for its excellent agricultural business practices.
TOP ENTREPRENEUR: EXPORT MARKETS: Winner – Berene Damons
Berene of Tesselaarsdal Wines (Pty) Ltd is a former au pair and administrator of wine exports, labelling and warehousing of estate wines. Berene now owns her own wine business and is an award winning wine producer in the Hemel-en-Aarde area in the Western Cape province.
MINISTERIAL AWARD: YOUTH ENTREPRENEUR: Winner – Marice Mercuur.
Marice Mercuur has for the last few years focused on natural handmade Rooibos Health and Skincare products. She supplies to a handful of curio shops and guesthouses in the small West Coast village of Clanwilliam.
Source: Western Cape Government: Agriculture