A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

ႉႄ

If there is really a lot of sand and the area is very dry, the soil has to be built up

biologically first before conservation agriculture can be applied with success.

The degree of soil degradation and the compaction in the subsoil of those areas

currently make it necessary to use a track traffic system. It is the practice to

counteract soil compaction by using rippers and then planting in the ripped row

without disturbing any other part of the soil. This is currently generally regarded

as the best practice in the deep sandy soils in the drier areas of South Africa’s

grain cultivation area.

A project with regard to the sandy soils is also being conducted to determine

whether these practices can be improved and a more biological approach followed

to improve the sandy soils biologically by the strict application of conservation

agriculture principles.

Information

Various awareness opportunities are regularly presented under the banner of the

conservation agriculture innovation programme or by supporting it, for example the

KwaZulu-Natal No Till conference in 2013, the conservation agriculture congresses

that were presented since March 2014 in North West in collaboration with the Ottosdal

No Till Club, and various farmers’ days among small and emerging farmers.

Information about conservation agriculture is available on the internet, but

practical examples of conservation agriculture are also published in magazines

SA Graan/Grain

Landbouweekblad

and

Farmer’s Weekly

. Grain SA identifies

producers in specific areas who apply good conservation agriculture practices

and then describes those systems very well before it is published. In that way the

information is made available to producers in the areas involved who are inter-

ested in applying these practices.

Grain SA also tries to bring the issue of conservation agriculture to the attention

of universities to a greater extent and to create opportunities where these institu-

tions can collaborate with producers in this field. In this way they try to make the

students more aware of and expose them to conservation agriculture practices.

Aim

The objective of Grain SA is to establish as many innovation platforms as possible

in these agri-ecological regions where there is no or very little acceptance of

conservation agriculture. In the process, a conservation agriculture working group

was established in Grain SA, playing a major role in the co-ordination and man-

agement of the programme. The working group developed a specific method to

identify and assess new projects and to identify a panel of experts who can assist

them. The working group also collaborates with other important role-players like

the government departments about issues concerning the creation of policies and

development of accredited training curriculums.

Work is currently being done to integrate conservation agriculture into the so-

called ‘LandCare’ programme of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and

Fisheries. This is a community-based natural resource conservation programme.