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THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
ႃႊ
In the process the co-operation and inputs of various leading businessmen and
academics were obtained, and they made great contributions to the development
of NAMPO’s internal pool of knowledge. One of them was Prof Jan Groenewald,
who was the dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Economics at the University of
Pretoria. Another was Dr Japie Jacobs, who served on various important and
leading commissions of inquiry – some of which are mentioned in this publication.
He provided particularly important inputs with respect to projects and solutions
tabled by NAMPO.
NAMPO’s objectives can be summarised briefly as follows:
• To improve the general image of producers;
• To enable producers to hold their own better in the business environment;
• To support growth in the organisation;
• To develop NAMPO Harvest Day into one of the best agricultural shows in the
world; and
• To establish a high-quality magazine.
NAMPO was an organisation of farmers for farmers. In realising the demands that
grain production makes of producers, NAMPO attempted at all times to provide its
members with assistance, information and practical solutions that could support
them in farming sustainably.
Image-building project
Public relations
Even after the merger between SAMPI and SAMSO antagonism towards NAMPO
continued, particularly from officials from the Department of Agriculture and the
SAAU. This often made co-operation with those organisations very difficult. Vari-
ous leaders in organised agriculture, including the Maize Board and co-operatives,
NAMPO INTERVIEWS WITH THE PRESS
In order to ensure that the right image and message of NAMPO are conveyed
at all times, a rule was introduced that nobody may talk about a matter if they
were not duly primed to do so. At the insistence of Mr Hennie de Jager it was
decided later that only the Chairperson of NAMPO was authorised to grant
interviews to the press, and only if the Chairperson was not available, was the
General Manager allowed to do so.
Video: NAMPO served its members’ require-
ments in various ways – mr Giel van Zyl.
In addition to its normal tasks, a whole
new dimension was added to NAMPO’s
work terrains, namely extended marketing
services. A cartoon in the August 1997
edition of
Mielies/Maize
shows the new
dynamics.
The first Chairperson of NAMPO, Mr Fanie
Ferreira.
Mr Japie Grobler, NAMPO’s last Chairper-
son before unification of the grain industry
in 1999.
