A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

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and 1990/1991 production seasons. This amount was paid to each qualifying

producer, regardless of the extent of their debt to co-operatives or ability to re-

cover. It was therefore also paid to producers who did not have carry-over debt.

• A sliding scale crop-damage subsidy of R100/ha to producers who had had

crop damage during the 1991/1992 production season. This was based on the

proven area of cash crops that had been planted during this production season

and/or was being planned, taking the proven crop produced during the season

into account.

• A carry-over debt subsidy of R640 million in total that was paid to qualifying

co-operatives. The division of the amount between the co-operatives was

done pro rata according to the ratio in which each co-operative’s outstanding

production debt stood at the end of the 1991/1992 production season, i.e. on

31 August 1992, to the total unpaid production debt of that season at all quali-

fying co-operatives on that date. The calculation was done after the employ-

ment of the carry-over debt subsidy of R175/ha and the crop damage subsidy of

R100/ha had been taken into account.

The implementation of this aid package also meant the end of the government

guarantee.

The 1994/1995 production season was once again one ravaged by drought. The

impact of this was that the main agricultural crops demonstrated a decrease in

production of about 52% compared to the previous season, and in certain parts of

the country producers experienced total crop failures. Because of this many grain

producers experienced major problems in obtaining product financing for the next

season, while perennial crop producers did not have the financing to re-establish

orchards that had died off because of the shortage of irrigation water.

Because of the effect of the drought, the cabinet allocated an amount of R199,5 mil-

lion to agriculture in October/November 1995 for financing aid to small-scale irriga-

tion farmers, an animal feeding scheme and assistance with the re-establishment

of perennial crops, or input financing of dryland crops.

Since then assistance from the government to agriculture has been limited to a

few cases where actual disaster conditions were experienced, and agricultural

producers essentially bore the risk of unfavourable economic and climatic condi-

tions themselves.

Storage and silo building programme

In the early 1900s grain was harvested in sacks and transported by ox wagon to

railway stations or co-operatives, where it was graded and stored on behalf of the

IT SEEMS THAT THE

FIRST GRAIN SILO

IN SOUTH AFRICA IN

WHICH 7 040 TONS

OF MAIZE COULD

BE STORED WAS

ERECTED FOR A MILL

IN VEREENIGING.

IN 1925 CJ BOSMAN REPORTED AS FOLLOWS

SUID-AFRIKAANSE GESAAIDES

‘The government constructed grain elevators in Durban

and Cape Town and about thirty places in the main maize

regions in the Union. Now there are great savings in the

handling of the crop; sacks are largely being eliminated;

wastage has been reduced to a minimum; the industry has

been given a great boost; the farmer is expected to receive

a greater part of the profits; buying and selling are easier;

the export trade can be regulated better and the industry

has been placed on a better footing.’