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THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
ႄႄ
Grain SA and industry role-players and at farmers days and demonstration trials,
the branding and banners of a number of stakeholders will be present.
Although Grain SA’s relationship with politicians has not grown much recently,
co-operation with the officials has improved and increased because Grain SA can
deliver. Despite the political winds and undercurrents, enough affordable food is
still a sought-after commodity. Food security remains central – and has become
even more important because of the drought and climate change.
Organised agriculture will have to view its partners in a different context in future.
Political appointments by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on the
boards of the grain trusts are expected to lead to a re-evaluation of the funding
priorities of the trusts. Input providers who acted as sponsor for agriculture in
the previous era will undoubtedly move closer to an organisation like Grain SA to
become involved at industry level through funding.
DATA BASE AND WEB REPORTING
Over the years, a huge amount of insightful information has been gathered about
each farmer who is part of the development programme. This comprehensive data
includes: Personal information, land access and tenure type, assets (livestock,
tractors and implements), production records (not of all farmers) as well as a record of
the training courses he/she has completed and study group meetings attended.
All the activities of all the fulltime- and contracted personnel in the programme are
reported on the web site on a daily basis. These include study group visits, farm
visits, training, demonstration trials, Farmer of the Year competition, mentoring
reports and schools visit reports. The information is up to date and ‘live’ and easily
accessible by any member of the management team at all times.
AT THE HEART OF THE JOURNEY
Developing people, improving farming operations, changing lives and giving the
gift of hope – These are the results of work done by a team of passionate people
with a reputation for respectful intervention, excellent work, scarce language
skills and expertise in the arena of farmer development. This work has been
steadfastly supported and encouraged by, strong and visionary leadership
from Grain SA CEO, Mr Jannie de Villiers, mandated to do farmer development
by the Grain SA congress. Programme Manager, Ms Jane McPherson and her
dedicated team who are always ready and willing to champion the cause of de-
veloping farmers have taken this dream much further than anyone could ever
have imagined.
IN CONCLUSION
When McPherson assumed her position in 2005, the programme was funded with
R2 million by the different trusts and there were four staff members working with
Harman. By the end of 2015 the funding to the programme amounted to R24 million,
nine regional offices are operating with a personnel component of 26 permanent
team members. In addition to this, the programme has at least 15 experienced
trainers who are contracted to conduct training sessions, mentorship and run the
schools programme.