A meeting was held with the Black Women and Youth Businesses in wine industry in August 2020. Subsequently, a task team was established that has engaged with role players in the wine industry during September 2020. The task team will followup on all issues raised and provide regular feedback to the wine industry accordingly.
Furthermore, as part of its transformation trajectory, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has introduced measures to empower and mainstream women in the sector, including women in the wine industry. The existing measures are as follows:
i) The Beneficiary Selection and Land Allocation Policy seeks to ensure gender equality and inclusivity by unlocking access to land to the most marginalised and vulnerable groups, specifically to smallholder producers, women, youth and people with disabilities, rural and peri-urban residents and military veterans. This policy advocates for 50% women, 40% youth and 10% people with disabilities.
ii) Norms and Standards for the inclusion of Vulnerable Groups (NSVG) that is a tool used to influence and provide guidelines for setting measurable targets for departmental programmes to prioritize vulnerable groups and to articulate the precise targets and timeframes. The NSVGadvocates for the allocation of at least 50% support to women, 50% to youth (of which 50% are agricultural graduates) and 6% to people with disabilities.
iii) Draft Comprehensive Producer Development Support Policyaims toregulate and guide the provision of support to the various categories of producers, thereby contributing to a sustainable and competitive agricultural sector. Through this Policy, government commits to promoting conditions which enable allpreviously disadvantaged citizens and targeted groups (women, youth, people with disabilities and military veterans) to gain access to land. This will be achieved through ensuring no less than 50% allocation of agricultural farming land for smallholders under the Redistribution Programme to women, 40% to youth, and 10% to people living with disabilities.
