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ႃႃ
CHAPTER 1
THE AGRICULTURAL
WAREHOUSE ACT
PROMULGATED IN 1930
CREATED A LEGAL
FRAMEWORK FOR
TRADING GRAIN BY WAY
OF GRAIN RECEIPTS OR
SILO CERTIFICATES. IT WAS
REVOKED IN 1975.
In February 1952 the Minister of Agriculture announced a long-term loan scheme
to the value of R10 million for constructing grain silos, to be financed by the Land
Bank. This only really gained momentum in the early 1960s, when the agricultural
co-operatives at the time, being agents of the control boards, started to construct
grain silos under the supervision of a Grain Silo Committee.
The Grain Silo Committee was constituted from representatives of the Department
of Agricultural Economics, the Maize Board, Wheat Board, Oilseeds Board and Sor-
ghum Board and had the final say with respect to the location, capacity and design
of the silos. The Land Bank considered applications for financing for the building
of silos only if they were backed by a certificate from the Grain Silo Committee.
The construction of bulk facilities for storing grain started getting momentum from
1961. Various methods were used in the construction of grain silos in the course of
time, for example the so-called concrete chute construction method. Later vertical
concrete structures were constructed that could take in and offload grain at a quicker
rate, with the additional advantage of more effective fumigation.
The agricultural co-operatives at the time constructed a total silo capacity equal to
15 465 432 tons of maize, of which 14 492 576 tons was constructed at 220 depots in
the north of the country, and 972 856 tons at 46 depots in the south (Western Cape).
The regulated silo building programme was suspended in 1984. At the beginning
of 1990 the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Kraai van Niekerk, disbanded the Grain Silo
Committee, and state loans for the construction of grain silos were abolished. This
brought an end to the control and restrictions on the construction of grain silos.
Silo owners earned a good income for storage compensation, particularly in the
period from 1986 up to the deregulation of the markets in 1996. As agents of the
control boards they received a guaranteed set capacity compensation, regardless
of the quantity of grain stored in the silos, as well as a handling fee that was based
on the quantity of grain received at and dispatched from the silos.
After deregulation and the abolishing of the control boards, this guaranteed com-
pensation ceased. In addition any person or institution could receive, store, buy
Mass storage facility in Lichtenburg.