Women In Agriculture: Markets, Money And Climate Resilience
Just after sunrise on a small plot outside Marondera, 36-year-old horticulture farmer Rutendo Moyo scrolls through her phone with one hand and checks her cabbage rows with the other. A buyer in Harare is asking if she can deliver every week, not just once a month. The opportunity is big, but so is the risk.
“They want guaranteed volumes, proper records, proof that I can supply all year,” she says, tucking her phone into a faded work apron. “Sometimes I feel like the market wants me to be a big company, but I’m just a farmer learning as I go.” [Illustrative — verify or replace]
On a different morning, 1,100 kilometres south in Johannesburg, women like Rutendo were at the centre of a powerful conversation. At the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), industry leaders, academics, financiers, and farmers gathered for a SoilSistas roundtable to tackle three questions that shape lives across the region: How do women farmers reach better markets, unlock finance, and survive climate shocks?
The event, hosted at the GIBS campus in Johannesburg and supported by Corteva Agriscience, explored how women-led agripreneurship is reshaping agricultural profitability, resilience, and food security in South Africa, even as women still face limited access to markets, finance, and climate-resilient tools.
Why Women Agripreneurs Matter To Food Security
At the heart of the roundtable was a simple but urgent reality: when women thrive in agriculture, communities eat better, incomes grow, and rural economies strengthen.
Communications manager at Corteva Agriscience South Africa, Lerato Luzipo, told delegates the SoilSistas initiative was born from seeing the same pattern repeat itself across the sector.
“The SoilSistas initiative, launched by Corteva Agriscience in partnership with the GIBS Development Academy, empowers women in agriculture by addressing systemic barriers,” said Luzipo. “Combining academic learning with practical training in modern farming, finance, marketing and sustainability, the programme aims to position women farmers as business leaders shaping the future of our food system.”
SoilSistas targets women already active in farming but still locked on the margins of formal value chains – those who can produce, but struggle to move from survival to scale.
FFA Explainer:
SoilSistas is a women-focused agribusiness development programme supported by Corteva Agriscience and the GIBS Development Academy. It blends classroom-based business training with mentorship and practical modules in production, finance, marketing, and sustainability to help women farmers grow viable, long-term agribusinesses. [SOURCE REQUIRED: programme detail verification]
Preparing Women For The Business Side Of Farming
In her opening remarks, GIBS programme manager Mirriam Mashego reminded the room that scaling a farm is not just about planting more hectares.
As agricultural businesses expand, Mashego said, the operational complexity multiplies: more workers, more paperwork, more risk, and higher expectations from buyers and financiers.
She explained that the SoilSistas programme is deliberately structured to meet this challenge head-on, strengthening both the technical and business management capabilities of women farmers so they can run enterprises, not just farms.
For many Zimbabwean smallholders, this is a familiar tension. Under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), government policy emphasises commercialisation of smallholder agriculture and stronger value chains. Yet women – who form a significant share of the farming workforce – often lack access to the very business training and networks that would allow them to benefit from those policies.
Rutendo, the Marondera farmer, puts it bluntly: “I can grow cabbages, tomatoes, even butternuts. But when the supermarket asks me for a tax clearance, a cashflow projection, or a food safety audit, I feel like I’m back in Form One.” [Illustrative — verify or replace]
Why Local Markets Come Before Export Dreams
During the Johannesburg panel discussion, Simóhn Engelbrecht, head of trade and relations at AgriSA, pushed back against a narrative that has seduced many emerging farmers: export at all costs.
“The biggest opportunity is not export first, but building a strong and reliable presence in the local market before scaling towards export,” she said.
Engelbrecht argued that many farmers are encouraged to chase export markets before they have solid, coordinated systems at home. That path, she warned, can be expensive and unforgiving.
Addressing broader market access challenges, she pointed out that poor coordination across agricultural value chains – from input suppliers to aggregators, processors, and retailers – remains a major constraint.
Buyers, she said, prioritise three things: reliability, consistency, and traceability. That means farmers must be able to offer stable volumes, predictable quality, and clear records to secure long-term markets.
Her message resonates across borders. In Zimbabwe, thousands of horticulture and poultry farmers have felt the sting of losing a buyer after just one failed delivery or inconsistent supply. Local councils, private aggregators, and development organisations are now experimenting with contract farming and structured markets, from Mbare Musika to new fresh produce markets in places like Bindura and Gweru, to help smallholders – especially women and youth – build exactly the kind of reliable local presence Engelbrecht describes.
For Rutendo, building that base has meant starting small: supplying a local tuckshop, a school feeding programme, and a hospital kitchen before even thinking about supermarkets.
“Once I can prove that I am constant here, in my own district, then I can talk about Harare big buyers or even export one day,” she says. [Illustrative — verify or replace]
Her story mirrors Engelbrecht’s warning that market access is not just a door to be opened once, but a system to be built and maintained.
Finance: Between Regulation And Reality
No conversation about women in agribusiness is complete without one thorny topic: money.
Jabu Mphambo, acting chief executive officer of South Africa’s Land Bank, used the roundtable to explain the tightrope public financiers must walk.
From a regulatory perspective, he said, Land Bank has to observe strict legal and financial requirements when approving funding applications. Issues of collateral, credit history, governance, and compliance are not optional; they are written into the laws and regulations that govern public funds.
He acknowledged, however, that this often leaves emerging and women farmers feeling locked out.
Mphambo pointed to progress made through blended finance initiatives – models that combine public and private capital, sometimes with grants or concessional terms, to de-risk investment in emerging farmers.
“We have approved approximately R4 billion in funding across more than 500 farmers,” he said. “Many of these beneficiaries faced similar challenges to other applicants but were able to meet the requirements. The process can be demanding as farmers also have a responsibility to be prepared and compliant in order to access the funding available.”
It’s a message Zimbabwean farmers know well. From the AFC Commercial Bank to microfinance schemes and NGO-supported input credit, women farmers are frequently told they must formalise, register, and keep records to qualify for loans. And yet, they often lack affordable support to do exactly that.
Under NDS1 and aligned with AU Agenda 2063 as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Zimbabwe has committed to expanding financial inclusion, particularly for women and youth in agriculture. But progress remains uneven; many rural women still rely on village savings groups and informal credit, which offer flexibility but limited growth capital.
For Rutendo, a US$2,000 loan could double her production. But without a title deed in her name or formal audited accounts, formal banking doors remain half-shut.
FFA Explainer:
Blended finance combines different types of capital — for example, donor grants, government funds, and commercial loans — to support higher-risk investments such as emerging farmers. Grants or guarantees can absorb part of the risk, encouraging banks and investors to lend where they normally wouldn’t.
Women Farmers On The Frontline Of Rural Development
Bringing the discussion back to the land, Kabelo Puling, chief executive officer of Pula Nala Bataung, an award-winning farming enterprise, spoke candidly about what it truly costs to run an agricultural business, especially in rural areas.
She described farming as both capital-intensive and relentlessly demanding. Limited infrastructure – from roads and cold storage to electricity – and high input costs place constant pressure on margins.
“Serious consideration needs to be given to the broader role of agriculture in addressing socio-economic challenges,” she said. “We need to use the land we have to create jobs, improve food security and expand the economy, especially in rural areas.”
That vision aligns closely with Zimbabwe’s NDS1 push to transform agriculture from subsistence to business, and with AU Agenda 2063’s call for inclusive rural growth. In practice, it means seeing women farmers not as “beneficiaries”, but as rural employers, innovators, and community leaders.
Across Zimbabwe, there are echoes of Puling’s perspective. In Mazowe, groups of women citrus growers are working with private exporters to meet quality standards. In Insiza, women-led livestock cooperatives are tapping into growing urban demand for beef and goats. Each of these efforts carries the same idea: when women control productive land and markets, they spark wider community change.
Climate Risks: From Shock To Systems Thinking
Climate risk threaded through the Johannesburg conversation like a quiet but insistent drumbeat.
Dr Carla Schutte, senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Pretoria, warned that climate-related disruptions are no longer rare disasters; they are now a structural feature of agricultural systems.
“We can no longer treat climate events as isolated incidents,” she said. “We must build systems that are flexible, resilient and prepared, and ensure that digital tools and skills are adopted purposefully, aligned with the readiness and needs of farmers so they can respond effectively and strengthen the resilience of their farming operations.”
Schutte stressed that resilience begins with integrated planning and adaptability: crop choices, water management, infrastructure, and market strategies all need to be designed with climate variability in mind.
For women farmers, who often manage smaller plots and juggle unpaid care work with farm labour, the stakes are particularly high. When a once-off drought becomes a three-year pattern, or when a sudden flood wipes out a season’s income, entire families slide backwards.
In Zimbabwe, El Niño-induced droughts, late rains, and unexpected dry spells have already reshaped planting calendars in districts like Chiredzi, Beitbridge, and Mutoko. Extension services now talk more frequently about drought-tolerant varieties, conservation agriculture, and small-scale irrigation – tools that can help farmers like Rutendo stay productive even as the weather grows wilder.
FFA Explainer:
Climate-resilient farming refers to practices, technologies, and systems designed to keep farms productive despite climate shocks such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, or changing rainfall patterns. This might include drought-tolerant seed, mulching, water harvesting, crop diversification, early warning systems, and flexible marketing strategies.
Technology, Data And The Human Factor
Schutte also highlighted the role of digital tools – from weather apps and mobile-based extension to digital record-keeping and e-market platforms – in strengthening farm resilience. But she issued a note of caution.
Digital tools must be introduced in a way that matches the readiness and needs of farmers, she said. A shiny app in English with high data costs, no offline function, and little local support can easily become a burden rather than a solution.
Her warning applies across Southern Africa, where farmers are being courted by agri-tech startups promising everything from instant credit scoring to drone mapping. For women with limited time, literacy, or smartphone access, the wrong technology can deepen gaps instead of closing them.
In Zimbabwe, some of the most effective tools remain the simplest: WhatsApp groups for market information, SMS weather alerts, and basic digital record-keeping apps that help farmers show banks and buyers a clear history of production and sales. Programmes led by farmer unions, NGOs, and private firms are experimenting with combining these tools with face-to-face training and peer learning – exactly the blended model SoilSistas promotes.
For Rutendo, one of her most valuable tools isn’t an app at all. It’s a small, well-used notebook. In it, she tracks every input she buys, every crate she sells, and every dollar that passes through her hands.
“When my buyer asks, I can show them my records. When my savings club wants proof, I show them here. One day, when I go to the bank, this book must speak for me,” she says. [Illustrative — verify or replace]
Building The Bridges Women Farmers Need
The SoilSistas roundtable in Johannesburg did not pretend that one programme could solve entrenched barriers. Yet it did something important: it brought the key pieces of the puzzle into one room.
- Market experts like Engelbrecht reminded farmers that local, coordinated markets are the foundation for long-term success.
- Financiers like Mphambo explained the rules of the formal system, while acknowledging the need for more inclusive, blended models.
- Researchers like Schutte reframed climate shocks as design challenges for entire farming systems, not just weather problems.
- Practising farmers like Puling insisted that agriculture must be recognised as a driver of jobs, dignity, and rural economies.
For readers in Zimbabwe, the lessons are clear. If we want women to drive the transformation envisioned in NDS1, Agenda 2063, and the SDGs, then training, markets, finance, and climate resilience can’t be treated as separate conversations.
They have to be stitched together.
That means:
- Designing programmes that pair business training with market linkages, not one without the other.
- Bringing banks, development partners, and women farmers around the same table early, so requirements are understood and support is targeted.
- Investing in climate-smart infrastructure – from small dams to solar pumps and storage – where women are already farming.
- Ensuring digital innovations are co-created with the women who will use them, in local languages, with low data costs and offline functions.
Back in Marondera, as the sun climbs higher, Rutendo decides to message the Harare buyer again. This time, she proposes a smaller, trial contract linked to what she knows she can reliably supply.
It’s not yet an export deal. It’s not a multimillion-dollar loan. But it’s a step – a woman farmer claiming her place in the market, one crate at a time.
And across the region, from the lecture halls of GIBS to the furrows of Marondera, that quiet, determined step is what’s beginning to reshape African agriculture.
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