This week on Womanity – Women in Unity, Dr. Amaleya Goneos-Malka talks to South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development – Thoko Didiza. We discuss some of the dynamics of agriculture, encompassing the spectrum of subsistence to commercial farming, although the various constituencies are positioned at different levels they all require support mechanisms in the form of technology reform, financial backing, market facilitation and access. Minister Didiza mentions an emphasis on enabling rural communities, especially women, to turn their assets, like goats and cattle, into revenue generators i.e. milk, cheese and meat production. We discuss disproportionate land ownership, favouring men over women, and the fact that women’s relationship to land tends to be through men. Minister Didiza shares some aspects her recent appointment to chair the African Union’s Specialised Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment, which partly entails leveraging expertise of the continent to deal with matters affecting these domains in an integrated best practice approach. Tune in for more…

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