6 / 27
THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
ႈ
I WANT TO GIVE
SPECIAL THANKS TO
OUR INPUT PROVIDERS
AND EXHIBITORS. YEAR
AFTER YEAR THEY ARE
THE LIFE BLOOD OF THE
HARVEST DAY. THEY
INCUR BIG EXPENSES
TO BRING MILLIONS OF
RANDS OF AGRICULTURAL
EQUIPMENT AND
ANIMALS TO THE
HARVEST DAY.
– Mr Bully Botma, Harvest
Day Chairperson, 1996.
the first combined Harvest Day, which was held in 1973 at the temporary national
Harvest Day grounds in Ottosdal.
When the farm Marthaville in the Bothaville district came on the market, the
decision was made to buy the land and develop it for this purpose.
The Bothaville/Viljoenskroon district was seen as a locality that was readily
accessible to producers from all over the country. Approximately 80% of the
maize production area at the time time was located within a 160 km radius from
Bothaville. Marthaville also borders a tarred road, which optimised accessibility
and traffic.
It must be said that the way in which the land came into SAMPI’s possession is
partly a mystery. Tradition has it that it was donated as a whole to SAMPI, but that
is unconfirmed. The harvest day grounds are made up of three title deeds, of which
the smallest part (approximately 25 ha) was donated by Mr Louis Luyt, at the time
the owner of Triomf Kunsmis, and in later years rugby boss, because he supported
SAMPI’s cause.
A view from the air of the Harvest Day
grounds before the big rush started in 1973.
The first combined Harvest Day was presented in 1973 on a farm near Ottosdal. To accom-
modate the previous harvest days of the Free State and the Eastern Transvaal there, the
grounds were enlarged by approximately 100 morgen.
The previous owner of Marthaville, Mr Jan Bothma, was apparently not happy
to sell directly to SAMPI, as he was a supporter of SAMSO. This challenge was
circumvented when Mr Flip Grobler, whose land bordered Marthaville, bought
the farm of 171 ha and transferred it to SAMPI immediately. As SAMPI was a rela-
tively young organisation at the time, the twelve Executive Committee members,
of whom Grobler was one, had to provide surety for the bond in their personal
capacity. A third piece of land was bought by NAMPO in the late eighties to house
a sheep project as part of the land conversion scheme.
In 1973 Messrs Hannes van Wyk and Callie van Wyk were delegated by SAMPI to
visit a Field Harvest Day in New Zealand to find out how the Kiwis were doing it.
The NAMPO era begins
After intervention by the former Minister of Agriculture, Mr Hendrik Schoeman, unity
in themaize industrywas eventually achieved. On 3October 1980 SAMPI and SAMSO
were dissolved to make room for the National Maize Producers’ Organisation, or
NAMPO. The Harvest Day – as a prominent part of SAMPI’s dowry – was therefore
renamed the NAMPO Harvest Day.
During the nearly 20 years that followed, the NAMPO Harvest Day went from
strength to strength. What was initially a maize-focused trade show was diversified
and expanded to accommodate the South African agricultural industry as a whole.
It developed into one of the best known local agricultural brands and today even
boasts a strong presence in Africa and abroad.
“
”