Land Bank determined to empower women

THE LAND Bank intends to use its loan book to advocate for the increase of women participation in agriculture in order for them to get more involvement in the broader economy of the country.

Chief risk officer Konehali Gugushe said the bank also wanted to increase the number of women in the industry by making land more accessible to them. She said although the bank did not have a separate funding for women, it wanted to encourage previously disadvantaged communities to apply for financing.

“The Land Bank, through the mandate from the government, provides financial services to the commercial farming sector and to agribusiness, and to make available new appropriately designed financial products that would facilitate access to finance by new entrants to agriculture from historically disadvantaged backgrounds,” she said.

Gugushe said women found it difficult to participate and take advabtage of opportunities that were available in agriculture as the land was not easily available to them.

“We want to increase this figure to promote inclusivity.

“We don’t only encourage women to participate, but the youth must be involved as well.

“They should see agriculture as an industry where they can play a meaningful role in the future,” she said.

Under recognised Gugushe said studies by the bank showed that women had been historically under recognised, despite comprising on average 43 percent of the agricultural workforce in developing countries.

While the figures represent women who have taken the lead in farming even on a small scale, an army of women have for years played supporting roles, mainly operating as subsistence growers, working on family farms or just as farm hands.

“Although they contribute significantly to food supply, it is clear that agriculture is long overdue for a gender-based overhaul,” Gugushe said.

“The most obvious solution is ensuring that women and men have equality of opportunity in accessing resources like land, credit, inputs and extension services.”

With the bank’s loan book currently standing at more than R40 billion, Gugushe said women should take the opportunities provided in order for them to become the drivers of the economy in the future.

She pointed to recent studies by Statistics SA and the South African Institute of Race Relations that showed only 33 percent of women were involved in skilled agriculture.

The bank’s chief executive Petrus Nchocho said only 10 percent of its loan book was allocated to emerging farmers – a category under which most women fell.

However, Nchocho stressed that the bank had grown its loan book to R40bn in just six years so they would keep on supporting farmers.