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Young female farmer reaps two awards

Siphiwe Machika, from Rethabiseng in Bronkhorstspruit, has been awarded with the Provincial Female Farmer of the Year Award and the National Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award for her work at Rethabiseng Sustainable farm.

Sustainable farming is the efficient production of safe, high quality agricultural products.

It serves to protect and improve the natural environment, as well as the social and economic conditions of farmers and their employees and local communities.

The Rethabiseng Sustainable farm is funded by Afrisam and aims to provide sustainable economic growth and diversification in the community where Afrisam operates.

In 2012, Siphiwe heard of an opportunity at Rethabiseng Sustainable Farm where she worked in the fields.

A few months later she was put in charge of the chickens and this new postion gave her the opportunity to learn more about farming.

Following her success at this level, she was subsequently nominated for the Provincial Female Farmer of the Year Award and the National Female Entrepreneur Award, where she was victorious once again.
 
Even after her achieving such great success, Siphiwe remains humble. When asked what all this meant to her she replied, "I think I was just lucky.  I never knew my work here would take me to this level. 

I want to invest some of my prize money for my daughter so that she can have a better education.  I wish to have my chicken farm and continue to use the skills that I learnt at Rethabiseng Sustainable Farming project, thanks to Afrisam and Food & Trees for Africa".
 
Rethabiseng is the first of Food & Trees for Africa’s FEED farms and is an innovative project that is part of AfriSam’s investment into community enterprise development under the mantle of their Social & Labour Plan.

We wish Siphiwe success in her future endeavors and applaud her hard work at contributing to sustainable development in the country. 

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