By Zanele Mabelane, Product Portfolio Head of Agriculture at FNB Commercial
According to Stats SA, there are approximately 40,000 commercial farming units in South Africa, yet only around 20% are owned by women, highlighting the transformation challenge that remains in the agricultural sector.
Speaking during a Women’s Month discussion on transformation in agriculture, Zanele Mabelane, Product Portfolio Head of Agriculture at FNB Commercial, said policies and programmes aimed at improving gender and racial equality have helped shift the conversation, but practical barriers continue to limit women’s ownership and participation in commercial agriculture.
For Mabelane, the challenge is not simply whether women are involved in agriculture, but whether they are able to move from smaller-scale and informal activity into farming enterprises that can grow, withstand shocks and compete commercially.
Many women remain active in informal agriculture, where access to formal markets, finance and support systems can be more limited.
A major obstacle remains access to formal markets. These markets require producers to deliver the right quality and quantity of produce consistently, which can be difficult for smaller farmers that are still building capacity, infrastructure and trading history.
“Formal markets actually require businesses to be able to provide quality, a certain quantity, at the right time,” says Mabelane. “You find that smaller businesses struggle with meeting those demands, and as a result they can’t access those formal markets.”
This creates a further financing challenge. Without formal market access, farmers often struggle to demonstrate historic performance, predictable revenue and commercial demand, all of which are important when financial institutions assess funding applications.
For this reason, Mabelane argues that access to finance is only one part of the equation. Commercial success also depends on access to markets, infrastructure, technical expertise and opportunities across the agricultural value chain. These factors influence whether a farming operation can move beyond participation and become a sustainable business.
“We are moving away from the more traditional way of lending where we only focus on financing, because we realise that support is quite important,” she says.
One example of this approach is FNB Agriculture’s partnership with the Citrus Growers’ Association and the Jobs Fund, which uses blended finance to support economic transformation in the citrus sector.
The programme has helped growers establish and expand orchards, rehabilitate existing operations, invest in critical on-farm infrastructure and build more resilient farming businesses.
By combining funding with skills development and enterprise support, the initiative has helped producers strengthen their operations and position themselves for long-term growth.
The model reflects the broader shift Mabelane believes is needed in agricultural transformation: moving beyond finance alone and combining affordable funding with the practical support farmers need to improve production, build capacity and access commercial opportunities.
For Mabelane, creating a more inclusive agricultural sector will require more than improved access to finance. It will depend on helping farmers build sustainable businesses with the skills, market access and support needed to grow and compete commercially.
