04/03/2026
In the spirit of the United Nations International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 ( ), Mulimi proudly highlights the inspiring journey of Thebbeth Chitalu, a resilient Deaf woman farmer whose determination powerfully demonstrates that disability is not inability.
For Thebbeth, being a Deaf woman farmer is empowering and transformative. It grants her independence, enables her to provide nutritious food for her family, and allows her to earn dignified income through agribusiness.
Her exceptional visual skills, sharp focus, and strong determination help her closely observe crops and adapt to field changes building deep confidence and proving that Deaf women can excel in agriculture and agribusiness on equal footing with anyone else.
When reflecting on women farmers especially Deaf women farmers,Thebbeth envisions extraordinary strength, resilience, and courage. These women labor tirelessly in fields, homes, and communities. Deaf women farmers encounter additional hurdles, such as communication challenges and limited access to sign language-based training, yet they continue as leaders, mothers, entrepreneurs, and change-makers who produce food and sustain their families.
Working in agrifood systems offers Thebbeth profound benefits such as enhanced confidence, leadership growth, and the opportunity to advocate for inclusive agriculture. She recognizes persistent challenges, including communication barriers in trainings and meetings, scarce sign language resources, difficulties securing loans and financial services, gender discrimination, and climate change but remains fully committed and determined to thrive.
Thebbeth emphasizes that women sustain agrifood systems through vital roles as advocates championing the inclusion of Deaf people in agriculture programs, as leaders motivating other Deaf individuals to pursue agribusiness, and as food producers cultivating crops to deliver healthy meals for families and communities while seamlessly balancing leadership, care, domestic work, economic prosperity, and food security.
Promoting women farmers like Thebbeth drives real progress against gender gaps and uplifts livelihoods worldwide. When Deaf farmers are empowered, communities grow more inclusive, productive, and economically vibrant. Supporting them is not charity it's smart, sustainable development that fortifies agrifood systems for all.
Mulimi celebrates Thebbeth Chitalu and every woman farmer shattering barriers and nourishing the future. Let's amplify their voices this !
