Windhoek
When Marika Raves was awarded the Agricultural Woman of the Year at the recent Namibian Agricultural Union’s annual congress, it underlined the increasingly important role of women in Namibian agriculture once again.
The award ceremony turned out to be a women’s affair when Judith Isele of Farm Springbockvley in the Omaheke Region made history for women when she scooped the award for Young Farmer of the Year. To crown the achievements of women this year, Ellanie Smit of the Namibian Sun was crowned the Media Personality of the Year.
Even though Raves, of the Suidelike Namib Farmers Association between Maltahöhe and Helmeringhausen, and her husband only started farming on Farm Grootfontein in 2011, she has been actively involved in the uplifting of resettlement farmers in the vicinity since 2012 by supplying seeds for vegetable farming, then buying the products from the farmers which she sells in a farm stall on the C14. She also assists with the raising of chickens and then again buys the eggs from them, which she sells at the farm stall.