A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

ႃႄ

THE GRAIN SA FARMER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME SEEN IN NUMBERS (2015)

Number of offices

Lichtenburg, Taung, Ladybrand, Nelspruit, Louwsburg, Dundee,

Kokstad, Mthatha, Paarl

Study groups

123

Current number of study group members

5 801

Demonstration trials

Farmers days held

Advanced farmers

141

Average arable land per study group member

198

Each office differs slightly in terms of the work they are doing as this is dependent

on the area, climatic conditions, level of farming, land tenure arrangements and

crops planted but they all do a specific quota of work each year. The projects which

are managed by the offices include the study group service, planting of demon-

stration trials, farmers’ days, and development of partnerships, the Farmer of the

Year competition, the support to the advanced farmers as well as the making of

arrangements for the training courses.

Currently (2015/2016) the costs of the offices have been borne by the Maize Trust

and the Winter Cereal Trust. The cost of an office is in the region of R1 525 000/

year which includes the personnel cost for the development co-ordinator as

well as the office administrator, the cost of the travelling (usually in the region of

4 000 km per month), the office rental, telephone, cell phone and fax, office

equipment rental and the costs of overnighting for the co-ordinator.

The different offices all service a slightly different farmer client base which is why

the detailed work load of each office differs from the others.

PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE AT GRASSROOTS

The Development Co-ordinators have continuously reported on good progress

with demo trials planted, farmers’ days held and the ‘advanced farmer’ programme

which has walked the road one-on-one with the larger scale more commercialised

farmers. The nominations for the Farmer of the Year competition were all excellent

candidates who had grown considerably. According to development co-ordinator,

Mr Danie van der Berg they are in fact no longer ‘developing’ farmers, they are

good farmers with good crops.

The study groups were a big help as were the farmers days. ’They are mak-

ing a good contribution to food security in their areas‛, he said. Mr Tonie Loots,

then development co-ordinator in Zeerust, said that farmers were starting to use

chemical weed control and were able to get better prices for their maize. ‘It’s a

totally different world of farming!’ Mr Papi Nkosi, past Grain SA Executive member

from Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga, expressed the farmers’ appreciation,

’Grain SA is doing wonderful work for the developing farmers. All the farmers

who are part of the programme are adjusting their production practices. This is a

very worthwhile programme and it is impacting on the lives of people.‛

Development co-ordinator, Mr Johan Kriel, who is based in Ladybrand in the Free

State, observed that Grain SA has had to cope with a snowball effect. The demand

for assistance and mentorship was great: ’If you find a farmer getting 1 to 2 tons

and you can increase that to 10 tons – this makes a difference in the life of the peo-

ple. We do not always realise the impact that we are having – the loyalty and the

responsibility that comes with that is huge – people come with lots of problems.

We are committed.”

Evidence of this ’snowball effect’ is reflected in the programme’s 2010/2011 statistics

which demonstrates a rapid momentum in its continued expansion:

• A total number of 655 study group meetings were attended by 10 033 farmers.

Sound bite: The rewards of being a development

co-ordinator – Mr Jerry Mthombothe