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5
December 2017
How do we go forward?
t
he year has run its course. Record crops in the north and a
drought crisis in the south. And then there is also a highly
emotional flare-up of farm murders which is upsetting all. The
leadership is reviewing both the high and low points of the
year over and over. All are sighing deeply. Maybe it is a sigh
of gratefulness that the year is over or just a sigh of: ‘How do
we go forward?’
The grain industry’s leaders will this December, either somewhere
by the sea, or under a Bushveld tree or high up in the mountains,
have to delve deeply to find solutions for 2018. Should agricultural
conditions be favourable, it will make the inclines less steep, but
will also have to make a contribution to the recovering of bank
balances.
Towards the end of the year we received a bright ray of hope
from a quarter one would not quite have expected it. The Portfolio
Committee for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries invited Grain SA
to advise and inform them about the coming summer season and
what the state of preparedness was for the devastating plague of
the fall armyworm that reared its head locally last year.
What was new, was that not only both our Ministers (Zokwana and
Cele) were in attendance, but the chairperson of the Portfolio Com-
mittee requested of Grain SA to annually inform the Committee,
so that they might actually know what was happening in the
grain sector.
Their words had a bite to them – as if their own people were not
doing it properly. She also enquired about the report on the drought
that I presented to the Committee last year and Grain SA’s whole
strategy with regards to the hectares lost in Mpumalanga due
to mining activities, which we are successfully regaining in the
Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
It is this type of trust between the decision makers in our country
and the agricultural sector which we have been dreaming about
for years and which we were continually working towards. We could
also report about the co-operation with the Department with regards
to armyworms. It gives me courage that all the efforts from our side
was not just swept under Parliament’s rug.
Another breath of fresh air before the heat waves of January and
February descend upon us, was the outcome of the Agri SA Con-
gress. Not necessarily the content thereof, but the changes that have
been approved. New leaders for the next epoch were elected and
the management structure was changed to a structure similar to that
of a company (thus with a board of directors).
We have already mentioned earlier that new expertise was obtained
to position the organisation better for what lies ahead. Many of our
businesses in and around agriculture also came to the party (corpo-
rate members) to indicate where their sentiments lie with regards
to differences with the state about fundamental issues such as
property rights. This is really encouraging.
I have, however, a few years ago during the Bush War and even in
the boardrooms of our country, learned that when the shots are
fired, not everyone around you necessarily runs to help. Therefore,
I can only hope that it will not be the same in this case. We need
everybody’s help and support for what lies ahead. All the best to
Dan Kriek and the new leadership!
I wish to close the year by saluting uncle Boris Kaplan (Tiger Brands).
He passed away during the last week of October. His face was im-
mortalised in the
Mielies/Maize
magazine cartoons of the nineties as
one of the ‘Fat cats’.
Uncle Boris was the gentleman among the millers, but a very shrewd
negotiator. He represented the buyers and traders on many boards
(maize, oil seeds and dry beans). I learned so much from him. He
definitely served the grain sector with distinction and left it in a
relatively better condition.
Dié spotprent (wat in Desember 1996 in
Mielies/Maize
verskyn het) beeld die verwerkers en kopers van mielies as “Fat cats”
uit – wat die destydse landbouminister op ‘n “uiters opportunistiese wyse” oortuig het van die oorgang tot ‘n totale vrye mark.
This cartoon (which appeared in
Mielies/Maize
of December 1996) depicts maize processors and buyers as the
’
Fat cats
’
– which
convinced the former agricultural minister in an ‘extremely opportunistic manner’ of the transition to a totally free market.