Cacadu fruit farmer brings home national prize
Cacadu fruit farmer brings home national Female Entrepreneur of the Year accolade – and top exporter prize
THE Eastern Cape province reclaimed the overall national Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award (FEA) at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) awards ceremony held in Polokwane recently.
The DAFF FEA awards commence at district level, then move to provincial level and culminate in the national awards.
The initiative was conceptualised to encourage and increase the participation of women, youth and people living with disabilities in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors.
The awards initiative is aimed at rewarding the efforts and contribution of women, youth and people with disabilities in matters of food security, job creation, economic growth and poverty alleviation.
The FEA is a joint venture between DAFF, provinces and key stakeholders in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors.
The awards include an overall winner and the following nine category winners: best female worker, best subsistence producer, top entrepreneur: smallholder, top entrepreneur: processing, top entrepreneur: commercial, top entrepreneur: export markets and two ministerial awards for young and disabled
They export to the Middle East, Far East and Europe and also serve the local market, with an income of R9.5-million.
female entrepreneurs in the sectors.
After the Eastern Cape lost the award won by citrus farmer Ivy Nokwanele Mzamo in 2014 to Julia Shungube from Mpumalanga in 2015, Velicia Janse of Oudrift Trufe Farm in Cacadu brought back the coveted prize to the province.
Prior to being announced the overall winner, Janse had defended the national Best Entrepreneur Award in the export markets category which was won by citrus farmer Buyiswa Ndyenga in 2015. Janse exported 71.98% of apples and 80.2% of pears from the 2 551.4 tons they harvested this year.
They export to the Middle East, Far East and Europe and also serve the local market, with an income of R9.5-million.
Janse was also the province’s FEA overall winner at the award ceremony, held in Port Elizabeth. Janse was not the only winner from the province at the ceremony in Polokwane. Philisa Fadana from Woodberry, Komga, who won the best entrepreneur award in the smallholder category at the FEA provincial ceremony and was the overall winner for the Amathole District Municipality, received the Minister’s Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs.
Fadana, who is blind, defended the Minister’s Award prize, which was won by Avryl Cox from Qumbu in 2015.
Fadana’s 256ha farm has 144 Bonsmara and Brahman cattle, 249 sheep, 38 geese, 92 free range chickens, 59 goats and 14 pigs. She has six poultry structures with the capacity of keeping up to 3 000 broiler chickens each and an orchard with mangos, strawberries, pawpaws, lemons, macadamia and hazel nuts, bananas, oranges and custard apples.
The province came back from the competition with a whopping R890 000 worth of prizes.
Janse received a combined prize of R790 000 – R250 000 for the export category, R500 000 for the overall prize and R40 000 worth of fertiliser. Fadana received a prize of R100 000.
In terms of FEA guidelines, winners are expected to utilise 80% of the prize money towards capacity and enterprise development for the sustainability of their businesses.
Expansion of deciduous production
According to Qoboshiyane’s policy speech during the 2016/17 financial year, the department supported a total of four farms in the Langkloof area, covering 31 ha with production inputs to improve production levels. A total of 153 farmers were supported and linked into partnership with Deciduous Fruit Development Agency and HortGro. A total of 122ha were supported at Sarah Baartman and in turn 399 jobs were created.
In the 2017/18 financial year, the DRDAR, in partnership with HortGro and Deciduous Fruit Development Chamber, will invest R 14.3-million (of which R6.9-million is from the Jobs Fund and R7.4 million from DRDAR) to upgrade 171ha of orchards and initiate the establishment of 450ha of new apple orchards in Gubenxa (Sakhisizwe). This programme is targeting to support 19 deciduous producers in the Langkloof in Sara Baartman and Gubenxa valley and will create 519 jobs opportunities.
The department continues to develop commercial farmers from previously disadvantaged communities, especially women. Venecia Janse of Oudrif farm number 2 (Koukamma Municipality), a deciduous fruit production enterprise that we supported, was awarded as the overall national winner in female farmer category. The farm has 15 beneficiaries (eight female, three males and four youth). It employs 44 permanent worker and 68 seasonal workers.