Vodacom Limpopo Region assist more than 100 unemployed female youths to enter the lucrative agricultural sector

Polokwane – To commemorate this year’s Women’s Month, Vodacom Limpopo Region has partnered with the South African Women in Farming (SAWIF) to assist more than 100 young unemployed women based in Vhembe District Municipality to enter the lucrative agriculture sector. In 2020, Limpopo had the highest unemployment rate of 44% due to high job losses in the province. Vodacom will pay SAWIF membership fees for over 100 young unemployed women in Vhembe to give them a start in their farming businesses. Secondly, Vodacom will sponsor the young women with seedlings to start planting vegetables and Macadamia nut trees. 
SAWIF is a national organisation of women in farming with presence in all nine Provinces and helps to open and create new markets for women farmers. In 2019, Vodacom Foundation in partnership with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and SAWIF launched the Women Farmers Programme to assist in the transformation of South Africa’s smallholder agricultural segment and create a more inclusive agricultural economy for women. The programme introduces women farmers, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, to technology as an effective tool in agricultural business. Two years later, the programme has gone from strength to strength. Vodacom has invested over R6.3 million in digital literacy training, and extended the programme to four more provinces, including Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and North West. Vodacom has more than doubled the number of women farmers trained through the programme. Currently, more than 1,300 women farmers from rural areas have been trained in digital literacy.