Capital Equipment News May 2016

COMMENT

NAMPO HARVEST DAY celebrates 50 th anniversary

L ast year’s Grain SA’s Nampo 2015 Har- vest Day was a great success, carrying on the tradition of the past 50 years with hundreds of manufacturers vying for the attention of the important agricultural mar- ket. One thing that few readers may know, is that Nampo is one of the largest privately owned exhibitions in the world, and the larg- est show of agricultural machinery and live- stock in the southern hemisphere. This pretty much explains why every year thousands of people come from all over the country to be part of the experience. Bothaville serves one of the richest agricultural communities in the country and is regarded as the centre of the Free State Maize Route. The first Harvest Day took place in 1967 with eight exhibitors and a total of 230 visitors. This modest beginning was the inception of an agriculturally focused, needs-driven trade show which grew year on year to reach an excess of 650 exhibitors and an anticipated visitor level of more than 70 000 people in 2016.

Trailer manufacturers and heavy machinery will be very much in evidence in 2016 as farmers use larger and ever more produc- tive machines for their soil preparation and will likewise be using larger trucks with more specialised trailers to move their produce. Year after year, the importance of the Nampo show to manufacturers grows as they strive to reach the exclusive agricultural mar- ket that depends on their products. There are few opportunities for manufacturers to showcase their products and Nampo is with- out doubt the biggest and most successful. The dark, lengthening shadows of drought conditions currently enveloping the agricul- tural sector appear to have had minimal ef- fect on the enthusiasm and mood for Nampo 2016, from exhibitors, farmers and visitors alike.

Since 2010, Nampo has been transformed into static exhibitions and virtual displays on the stands of the exhibitors, staffed by specialists and marketing personnel. As commercial farming ventures have started diversifying for the sake of sustainable prof- itability, the Harvest Day organisers have en- sured that the choice of exhibitors and the facilities have kept pace with new develop- ments and latest trends in farming technolo- gy to the extent that every aspect of farming receives exposure. Most of the major truck and earthmoving manufacturers will be present at the show in large numbers this year and it will be in- teresting to see if the number of new imports from the East will be more evident than in previous years. With global markets under pressure, Africa still offers large develop- ment potential, especially for well priced agricultural machinery. Subsistence farming is on the rise so the demand for less compli- cated, smaller equipment to replace the tra- ditional equipment has been the backbone of agricultural development in many Eastern countries.

Pierre Sanson, Editor

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