Regarded as the largest agricultural exhibition of its kind in the southern hemisphere, the highly renowned NAMPO Harvest Day saw thousands of visitors flock to the Free State’s Bothaville to gain first-hand insights on the latest advancements in technology, equipment and tools to benefit the agricultural industry in South Africa. The town of Bothaville took advantage of the event, as local businesses and boutiques polished their offerings for the influx of people to the usually quiet town.
Due to the global pandemic, NAMPO Harvest Day took a two-year hiatus between 2020 and 2021. This year, to keep in line with Covid-19 regulations, the event took place over five days as opposed to four, to accommodate the restricted number of daily visitors. RS Components South Africa was one of the many companies that exhibited at this year’s instalment.
Danise Smit, sales and customer services director for RS Components South Africa, said that the RS team members who attended the show connected with hundreds of customers, both new and existing. “It was great for us to have face-to-face interactions with the farming community after two years. So much has changed, both in technology and in how farming is done. As a company that is always driving innovation to create a better world, it made sense to showcase our IoT and Food Safety solutions. Farming is becoming smarter, more efficient and more sustainable, and it’s really exciting to walk that journey with our customers,” she said.
Day RS South Africa showcased several sensing and monitoring products and solutions, as well as several RS Pro Food Safe maintenance products for use in food processing and farming. All RS Pro Food Safe products are registered with the NSF (National Sanitisation Foundation), an international public health and safety organisation, demonstrating risk reduction compliance. The handling, preparation, processing and packaging of food products requires machinery with moving parts that encounter foodstuffs. Keeping this equipment clean and lubricated involves the use of non-food chemical products. NSF certification ensures that such products present a significantly lowered risk to health and assist to effectively eliminate the risk of foodstuff contamination when used appropriately.
This year’s event saw the introduction of commercial electric vehicles as well as the evolution of drone technology which can be used for surveying, analysis, and seed and pesticide dispersion. One of the many farmers at the event said being a maize farmer in South Africa can be very challenging. “The introduction of smart monitoring technology can help us overcome the many challenges that we face. The drone technology, as an example, can be used by us maize farmers to monitor fields in real time. We can assess which areas of the fields need more attention than others. It is really great, and what’s even better is that these technologies are becoming more accessible and affordable to us as farmers,” he said.
Grain SA, the organiser of the event, received several new applications for exhibition space for the 54th NAMPO Harvest Day. Dr Pieter Taljaard, CEO of Grain SA, said that the event provided a much-needed injection into the local economy after a two-year hiatus, with many small business owners relying heavily on the income made possible because of this agricultural platform. “Furthermore, the economic importance of NAMPO to the corporate, medium and small businesses from all over South Africa participating in the show cannot be underestimated,” he said.
Grain SA’s objective is to use NAMPO as a platform to showcase the role of the commercial agriculture sector in South Africa and to highlight the country’s farming industry as a scientific and sophisticated economic sector that is committed to providing the nation with safe and affordable food.
A quick video overview may be accessed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BXdM2tFcOI
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