Nampo 2018: South African agriculture is live and well

"The growing interest in the Nampo Harvest Day is encouraging, and it proves that agriculture is still alive and well. A personal highlight of each Nampo is meeting various people, talking and building relationships. Those relationships strengthen the hope on which agriculture is built," said Jannie de Villiers, CEO of Grain SA.

Image Source: NAMC

"It is also noteworthy that the number of non-agriculture visitors and numerous media representatives from outside the agricultural media has increased. From formal and informal discussions it is clear that they come to Nampo because they like it there. The growing interest from black farmers in the show is also a definite plus to Grain SA."

Foreign exhibitors’ interest in Nampo as a platform for reaching the rest of Africa continues. Approximately 76 international exhibitors were housed in eight international pavilions – each involved at least eight exhibitors from their country as part of their exhibitions. Representatives from Israel, Poland, England, America, India, France, Italy, Denmark, China, Turkey and Russia participated in the Harvest Day.

Grain SA continuously seeks to retain Nampo's sole focus on agriculture. The selection of exhibitors and the items on the programme are consistently arranged with this in mind. This year the Nation in Conversation forum made a strong contribution to the land debate. Fittingly, in the 30th year in which the Farmer Patent Competition was presented, Grain SA and Omnia welcomed the magazine Landbouweekblad as an additional partner.

If you give someone land, you are giving them an asset - If they don't now what to do with it, you are setting them up for failure, they need experience first - @nono247 #YouthinAgriculture #NiC2018 #Nampo2018 pic.twitter.com/l1C713SHml

— NationInConversation (@NationConverse) May 18, 2018

The poor condition of various public roads in the area of Nampo Park is of great concern. This places enormous pressure on certain routes and hampers the steady flow of traffic to and from the showgrounds.

The broad agricultural family of the Western Cape can look forward to Nampo Cape, which will be presented in collaboration with Grain SA at Bredasdorp in the Western Cape from 12 to 14 September 2018. This trade and stock expo is aimed at creating a base as an agricultural information provider, marketplace, network opportunity and gathering place for everyone with an interest in agriculture in the region.

Next year’s Nampo Harvest Day has already been scheduled for 14 to 17 May.