Dr Yvonne Maila’s marula enterprise empowers rural women

By Maile Matsimela

In the Limpopo Province, Dr Yvonne Maila, armed with a Phd in Agric, leads Matshelo Agri and Agro Consultancy, a women-led cooperative that has become a beacon of agricultural innovation and women’s empowerment. Based in Tzaneen, Dr. Maila’s leadership has transformed the indigenous marula fruit from a seasonal resource into a year-round economic opportunity for rural women.

Dr Maila was one of the exhibitors at the 2025 Agri-Expo held last week in Tzaneen.

“Our focus is on empowering women through agricultural enterprises,” explains Dr. Maila. “We’ve created a system where we can preserve our products, allowing us to distribute them year-round, even after the marula harvest season has ended.”

The cooperative’s operations follow the natural rhythm of the marula tree’s lifecycle, with a carefully designed process that maximises this valuable resource.

From January to March, when marula fruits ripen, the cooperative organises collection efforts across various villages including Ga Sekororo, Phalaborwa, and Solomonsdale. This community-based approach ensures a steady supply of raw materials while providing income opportunities for local gatherers.

One of the cooperative’s distinguishing features is its commitment to traditional processing methods that preserve both the quality of the product and cultural heritage. Following time-honoured techniques, the cooperative extracts marula juice through careful processing, then preserves this nutritious beverage using traditional silos. This preservation method ensures the juice remains available long after the harvest season ends, providing year-round access to this valued resource.

How Traditional Processing Creates Year-Round Value

Equally important is the meticulous hand-cracking process employed to extract marula nuts. 

Dr Maila says women workers carefully crack each marula seed by hand to access the valuable nuts inside without damaging the delicate inner kernel. This labour-intensive process, she adds, cannot be rushed or mechanised without sacrificing quality, requiring considerable skill, patience, and traditional knowledge passed down through generations. 

Beyond marula processing, the cooperative also cultivates beans and other crops, creating a diversified agricultural portfolio.

Despite its rural location, Matshelo Agri and Agro Consultancy have established an impressive distribution network. Dr Maila says their products reach all nine provinces of South Africa through strategic partnerships and courier services.

The cooperative has also secured specific commercial relationships as well, supplying marula nuts to three lodges in Hoedspruit, where they are incorporated into rusks, baked goods, and various culinary creations. 

The Marula Value Chain

At its core, the cooperative serves as a vehicle for women’s economic empowerment. Currently employing approximately 15 women across its various operations, Matshelo Agri and Agro Consultancy provides stable income opportunities in regions where formal employment is often scarce.

The cooperative takes pride in its financial inclusion practices, ensuring all workers are paid through bank accounts. This approach, says Dr Maila, not only provides financial security but also helps women build credit histories and gain greater economic independence.

Despite its achievements, Dr. Maila acknowledges several significant challenges that limit the cooperative’s growth potential:

• Infrastructure Limitations: The absence of a centralized processing facility affects both production efficiency and worker safety.
• Cold Storage Needs: Without adequate cold storage infrastructure, preserving marula juice and other perishable products throughout the year remains difficult.
• Production Capacity Constraints: The cooperative currently cannot utilise all available marula resources from surrounding communities due to limited production capacity.

“We see tremendous untapped potential in our communities’ marula resources,” she notes. “With proper support and infrastructure, we could significantly increase our production, create more jobs, and bring greater economic benefits to women in our region.”