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CHAPTER 2
critical supply position at the beginning of the 1943/1944 season and problems that
were experienced with the storage and handling of maize. This led to the Maize
Board deciding in 1944 to implement a single-channel marketing system for maize
for the 1943/1944 season. In terms of this system the Maize Board became the only
marketing body for maize in the so-called controlled areas.
Maize producers and off-takers were then no longer entitled to enter into direct
maize transactions with each other. They were also prohibited from storing greater
quantities of maize than those required for their own needs.
Initially, the single-channel marketing system was introduced for a trial period of
one year in the 1944/45 season, but eventually it continued until the 1995/1996
season, with minor amendments from time to time.
The basic principles of the single-channel marketing systemwas (i) that the Minister
of Agriculture fixed themaizeprice every year (inMayof every year) after considering
the recommendations of the Maize Board, the National Marketing Council and the
Minister’s other advisers, (ii) that all consumers of maize had to contribute to the
cost of handling and storing grain, and (iii) that consumers had to be assured of
adequate grain supplies at predetermined prices.
Under the single-channel marketing system the Maize Board was the only buyer
and seller of maize in the main production areas. For that purpose three production
areas were identified where different measures with respect to the marketing of
maize applied:
• Area A included the present (2014) North West, Free State, Gauteng and Limpopo,
as well as the north and north-western areas of KwaZulu-Natal and a small part of
the Northern Cape in the Hopetown area. This area produced about 95% of South
Africa’s maize and the producers in the area were forced to sell their maize only to
the Maize Board or its agents, at the fixed price. This meant that the Maize Board
in effect had full control over the maize produced in the country.
• Area B comprised various small areas spread around the central, southern and
south-western areas of the country. In that area producers were permitted to
sell their maize only to the Maize Board or traders registered with the Maize
Board at prices that were not allowed to be lower than the prices applying in
Area A. These traders had to submit monthly returns to the Maize Board on the
maize they had purchased and pay a levy on the maize that they purchased.
• Area C covered the rest of the country. In that area no control applied, except
that a levy had to be paid to the Maize Board on all maize from that area that was
sold in the other two areas.
With the introduction of the single-channel system the Maize Board appointed the
existing organisations involved with the handling and storage of grain, namely the
co-operative associations, millers and trader agents, as its agents. The Maize Board
did not undertake the functions of handling, storing, financing and distributing
maize itself, but handled these through its agents.
In time it was also possible for the Board to make bulk storage facilities available
through these agents. In addition to delivery to the agents, producers could also
deposit their maize directly in grain elevators of the Railway Administration. In this
way the Maize Board controlled roughly 90% of the country’s maize by the beginning
of the 1950s.
The Maize Board was therefore in effect in a position where it could retain total
control of maize supplies. The Board therefore knew exactly how much maize was
available in the country, which enabled it to provide the Minister with proper advice
on the exporting or importing of maize and controlling of carry-out supplies. This
also contributed to better planning with respect to distribution and the elimination of
needless cross consignments, which were unco-ordinated and extremely ineffective
in the era before the introduction of the Maize Board.
1957 – Joseph’s Policy
The need for adequate carry-over supplies became a regular discussion point in
the Maize Board as far back as the early 1940s. This matter came to a head in 1957
when maize had to be imported to supplement the deficit in domestic production.