17 / 53
ႃႉ
CHAPTER 4
the revenue from membership fees was reduced considerably because the number
of members declined. This gave NAMPO’s financial position a serious knock – to the
extent that at one stage in 1983 the organisation did not have sufficient funds to pay
the staff’s salaries and an overdraft facility had to be arranged with the bank to do so.
During the mid-1980s the Director-General of Agriculture paid an amount from a
surplus in the levy fund over to NAMPO. These funds were invested and were
never employed by NAMPO, as the General Manager felt that the organisation’s
running costs had to be funded by the industry itself. The intention was to allow
the investment to grow to a level where the income from it would be sufficient to
maintain the organisation’s core functions, regardless of member contributions.
By the time Grain SA was established, it had grown to a tidy nest egg.
NAMPO did receive funding for research later, as well as assistance for certain
projects and actions. However, one of the biggest restrictions for SAMPI and
NAMPO remained limited funds.
Strategic planning
NAMPO had various strategic objectives. On the one hand was the so-called
Development Trust, led by the chief economist, Dr Kit le Clus, which concentrated
on business economics research. The results of this division’s work were employed
in providing members and other stakeholders with accurate information. Such
information allowed producers to make better production and marketing decisions.
The so-called ‘brain trust’ was also located in that division. The aim of the brain trust
was to provide NAMPO producer members in the Maize Board with information and
advice in their preparation for Maize Board meetings, as part of the strategy was for
all the producer members to participate actively in Maize Board discussions.
On the administrative side different projects were launched by Van Zyl to improve
the image of maize production and maize producers in the broad economy. These
projects included the following: image building, media networks, the NAMPO
Harvest Day, the
Mielies/Maize
magazine, the Maize Man of the Year awards and
public relations.
NAMPO’s leadership placed great emphasis on projections to allow strategic
adjustments to be made. Experts from the political arena as well as the private
sector were involved, including Drs Kobus Neethling, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert
and Jan Dreyer, as well as Messrs Clem Sunter and Jac Laubser, in order to expose
NAMPO’s Executive Members to external views that could support them in
shaping their own vision of the future.
Sunter addressed producers on various occasions on future scenarios and his pub-
lications were distributed regularly among NAMPO’s Executive Members to keep
them updated on the current views or future expectations.
NAMPO projects
During its existence of 20 years NAMPO was an active, progressive organisation
that attempted many projects and delivered great inputs to the maize industry in
South Africa in particular. It is not possible to even just refer to all those inputs in
this publication, let alone provide details. For that reason only a few of the activities
and initiatives are mentioned in an attempt at providing a view of the nature of the
inputs and contributions made by NAMPO.
Status of grain producers
At the time NAMPO was established the general view of the grain producer in South
Africa was one of a poor farmer with a bedraggled overall on a worn-out tractor – not
at all positive. Dr Piet Gous, General Manager, was tasked with changing this view.
Under his guidance the focus fell specifically on demonstrating that grain producers
could hold their own at the highest levels of the business world and society.
In time the image and position of the grain producer improved to the extent that
producers have for quite some time been respected and acknowledged for the
major role they play in the business world and in the community.
DURING THE SAMPI ERA
THE MEMBERSHIP GREW
TO 6 700 FULLY PAID-UP
MEMBERS, BUT BY 1983
NAMPO HAD ABOUT
2 200 FULLY PAID-UP
MEMBERS.
Video: The huge maize battle is aptly summa-
rised by Mr Giel van Zyl.
Video: Arguments were continuously based on
facts and supporting data prepared by expert
personnel, Mr Von Abo explains.
