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| Make Fikile Sukati receives her cheque from EU Ambassador, Nicola Bellomo |
Women are central to all aspects of agriculture in their communities and they play a predominant role in agribusiness which dominates rural economies throughout Africa and drives economic growth.
This was said by EU Ambassador, Nicola Bellomo, on 18 November 2015 during the prize giving ceremony for the annual and now popular Woman Farmer of the Year Competition held at Riders' Ranch at Sidvokodvo in Manzini. The competition, run by the Women Farmer Foundation under the able leadership of its founder, Sonia Paiva, is part-funded by the EU.
This year's competition was won by Fikile Sukati, a vegetable farmer from Mphembekati in the Manzini region. She beat 222 other women farmer competitors to walk away with the first prize comprising agricultural implements worth E78 000.
In his speech, Ambassador Bellomo said because of the significant role women played in agriculture, any support to them through policies, funding and programming is an investment which will accelerate agricultural growth while addressing food security. He said it is for this reason that the Woman Farmer Competition which promotes women farmers was commendable.
The Ambassador further said on average women make up about 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries but said their main stumbling block was the lack of involvement in decision-making and access to finances.
He said if women farmers had the same access to productive resources as their male counterparts, they could increase agricultural yields by 20 to 30 precent thus raising the total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent which would in turn reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12 to 17 percent.
Ambassador Bellomo then called for the increased empowerment of women farmers so that they could positively contribute to food security.
Source: European Union in Swaziland
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