A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

ႄ

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

The bir¥h and prog¢ess

of Farer Development in the

I thought,

’

Why doesn’t someone do something about this?

‛

And then I realised I am someone –

Author unknown

Early farmer development initiatives regarding grain and oilseed production had

already been implemented by farmer organisations like the National Oil and Protein

Seed Producers Organisation (NOPO) and the National Maize Producers Organisation

(NAMPO) prior to the forming of Grain SA. Their successes and the clear thirst for

knowledge and networking demonstrated by the farmers encouraged Grain SA to take

over the baton and build on this positive momentum.

By 2005 the Grain SA Executive had given instruction that the management were to

prepare documentation for presentation to the Congress of 2006. It was their wish

to entrench the participation and voting rights of developing farmers who were sent

to Congress by their regions. Congress wholeheartedly supported this proposal and

developing farmers were formally included in the structures of the organisation.

The study groups were then grouped into four regions: North, South, East and

West. Each region was asked to nominate a member who would have full voting

rights and would represent them on the Executive and other structures in the sector

including the Farmer Development Working Group. The spirit of the congress

decisionwas a significant indicator from the commercial farmers of their intention to

co-operate with the transformation and land reform programme by contributing to

the development of farmers through the transfer of knowledge, skills development

and mentorship support wherever it was needed.

The Farmer Development Programme (FDP) of Grain SA has been operating for

more than ten years now and the programme currently offers its services to farmers

from nine different regional offices. The journey has not been all plain sailing

and there have been many challenges and disappointments along the way; but

purpose and passion has burned in the hearts of the farmer members and

management of Grain SA, as well as the farmer development team which has been

expanded considerably over time. Incredible results have followed many years,

thousands of kilometres and dogged determination, and have been the continued

source of inspiration and motivation to continue growing the Programme.

Furthermore, rain-fed grain farming in South Africa has long been under extreme

pressure. For years the value of the grain had not risen in keeping up with the

prices of inputs, and it did not reflect the risks involved in this type of farming. In a

South African context anyway, there are a number of important reasons why it is

still necessary to develop ‘empowered black commercial farmers ‘, not the least of

which is to have a united voice so that the real issues facing farmers (and therefore

national food security) can be addressed. Agriculture has been an important em-

ployer and the foundation of many related industries who also contribute in terms

of job creation as well as the gross national product. Most significantly in terms of

the rural development plan and land transformation agenda of South Africa, 30%

of white owned land was to be in the hands of black farmers, implying that 30% of

inputs and outputs should also come from this land.

These are all reasons which continue to inspire Grain SA to pursue the FDP’s mission

statement as it is written today:

To develop capacitated commercial grain farmers

Mr Cois Harman

Mr Gert Pretorius

Mr Nico Vermaak, previous Manager of

NOPO.