Female farmworkers march

About 100 women marched to Parliament to urge government to improve conditions in the agriculture sector, writes Jyothi Laldas.

- Jyothi Laldas.

The Women on Farms Project (WFP) convened its annual National Farm Worker Platform (NFWP) under the theme ‘A Just Transition for Agrarian Transformation’ from 6 to 8 November.

On the final day of the three-day convention, a 100-women strong march took place to Parliament where a memorandum addressed to Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza was handed over.

The women called for sustainable farming, an end to the use of harmful pesticides, and remuneration that dignified farmworkers, among other things.

The platform brought together a variety of stakeholders, including farmworkers, union representatives, NGO leaders, government officials, and farm owner representatives with the goal of facilitating discussions and realistic actions towards a just transition in the agriculture sector.

Other involved organisations included the Rural Women’s Assembly, the Casual Workers Advice Office, and trade unions.

According to the memorandum, despite progressive labour and tenure legislation introduced in a democratic South Africa, farmworkers remained poor, marginalised and vulnerable. “While white farmers hold about 78% of farmland in South Africa, women farmworkers and dwellers remain landless, experience evictions, and earn low wages for the increasingly precarious and insecure seasonal work they do on farms,” they wrote.