- Agri EC, Young Farmer
Agri Eastern Cape together with Sanlam Private Wealth, Gold Corporate Members of Agri EC and Angus Williamson from the KZN RPO, attended Nampo Bothaville this past week. It was a great experience for our CEO and Infrastructure manager to attend and meet people from all over the country who all share a passion for agriculture.
The team visited numerous stands and discussions to ensure the maximum amount of feedback was secured to return to the Eastern Cape with. They attended an important panel discussion focused on Strengthening Rural Infrastructure to Boost Agricultural Productivity which included panel members such as Moshe Motlohi (Transnet), Theo Boshoff (AgBiz), Marlize Nel-Verwey (Sanral) and Dr Hubert Joynt (ISA).
As gathered from the discussion it presented that Transnet faces significant challenges due to vandalism and underfunding, which has slowed its ability to repair and maintain infrastructure. Discussions began in 2023 to involve the private sector, allowing them to invest in the railway network due to government funding constraints. For the first time, private operators were invited to apply for slots, with 98 applications received. Moving forward, priorities include upgrading infrastructure, enhancing security measures, and digitizing the network to increase capacity and safety for both employees and users.
The 22 000 km railway network requires substantial maintenance, categorized into A (high priority) and B (lower priority, including agricultural) corridors. However, with a maintenance budget of only R8 billion, there's a shortfall of R3 billion, as R11 billion is needed. Agbiz CEO highlighted the importance of the railway networks, noting that while 80% of grain was transported by rail in the 80s, this has drastically decreased to 8%. This shift has significant implications, including increased transport costs and a reliance on imports.
Meanwhile, SANRAL has expressed concerns about the impact of heavy trucks on roads, citing a 43% increase over five years. Without prior notification, roads have suffered extensive damage. This highlights the need for better coordination and planning between infrastructure managers and users.
While infrastructure is extremely important in the agricultural sector, the Agri EC team also focused on the Red Meat industry by visiting the RMIS to discuss the importance of traceability and to find out about the progress with Phase 2 (capture data) of the traceability platform, as phase 1 (identifying locations) was recently launched. The RMIS ensured Agri EC that the traceability platform will be fully launched by the end of the year, which will result in easier red meat exports for farmers especially due to the current risk of Foot and Mouth Disease.
Agri EC ran into many familiar faces such as Agri SA, Agri Western Cape, Free State Agriculture, as well as a few corporate members including Kyron Agri and ISUZU South Africa.
ISUZU South Africa showcased their latest vehicle models which are suited for modern farmers at Nampo Bothaville. ISUZU are truly committed to the agricultural community by launching these models, which are specifically tailored for the farming sector and are engineered for durability, strength and versatility, and through strategic partnerships, such as with Agri Eastern Cape, to enable better access in the rural communities. Agri EC is extremely grateful to ISUZU for sponsoring us with a top of the class vehicle that ensures our safety as we travel all over the country and on some of the worst roads. This is a growing partnership, and we will still do many great things together.
Nampo is a once in a lifetime experience and if you have a passion for agriculture and you are privileged enough, do yourself a favour and visit Nampo Bothaville.
