ELDERLY WOMAN WINS FARMER OF THE YEAR

SIDVOKODVO - Nomsa Sigudla has proven that age is just a number by scooping the 2018 Woman Farmer of the year Competition (WOFACO) first prize of E190 000.

The 60-year-old farmer won prizes which included E20 000 cash, a tractor, tank, fertilisers and irrigation pipes among other farming materials.
Meanwhile, Philile Dlamini of Nkhaba was named the winner under the youth category and went home with prizes amounting to E36 310. Sigudla of Nsingweni under Maphalaleni constituency in the Hhohho Region, said she started farming a while ago and joined the WOFACO four years ago and had been improving over the years.

When she joined for the first time in 2015, she was position nine while in her second year (2016) in the competition, she scooped position four. A year later (2017), she was position two before being crowned as the winner yesterday. Sigudla, who is about to start receiving her elderly grant from government, farms maize, legumes, sweet potatoes and rears indigenous chickens among other things.

The elderly woman, who lives with her husband and four children, started farming after seeing that they were poverty stricken in the community yet they were blessed with plenty of land. After joining the WOFACO and being able to take care of her family, her neighbours started farming and she was happy to be a pioneer in her community.

Sigudla sells her agricultural products to mills, individuals in the rural and urban areas. In terms of social responsibility, she usually donates food to neighbourhood care points (NCPs) and orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in her community, whom she also teaches how to farm.
The event was graced by the Minister of Agriculture Jabulani Mabuza, Ambassadors of the Republic of China on Taiwan and United States of America to Eswatini Jeremy Liang and Lisa Peterson among others. Also present during the event were Nhlambeni Member of Parliament (MP) Manzi Zwane and Kukhanyeni MP Vincent Sihlongonyane to mention but a few.

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