NAMPO 2017
Slashers and( behind) personnel trailers are new to Afri-Ca Implements’ line-up
From page 13 participation has grown, with more overszeas exhibitors, either participating as individual firms or as part of government-led trade delegations and this year was no exception. Compared to other countries such as Australia, South Africa is well-served in the large tractor, implement and machine market, but hitherto has been woefully underserved in the small tool market, in the view of one Australian vendor because South Africans have tended to rely on the manual work of its labourers to get tasks done rather than employing a specialist tool for the job. This is changing, and innovative hand implements and tools are turning up at Nampo, aimed at both the emerging agricultural sector and the commercial user. Leading this field is undoubtedly the ever-innovative and industrious Bultfontein mielie farmer Michris Janse van Rensburg, with his Backsaver range of hand and animaldrawn implements and tools. His stand, at the junction of the two main thoroughfares of the showgrounds has become something of a mecca for smallholders and now includes devices made and marketed by associates aiming at the same market. Among Backsaver ' s latest developments is a wire tensioner for stranded fences which is both simpler and more effective than the traditional lever-action-andchain“ koko” tensioner commonly found throughout South Africa. Van Rensburg got the idea for this device from a similar Australian tensioner. Backsaver also makes a hand-push granular fertilizer dispenser which is accurate and precise in its delivery. However, Backsaver is not the only player in the hand-drawn implement field. Also aiming at the smallholder farmer market is Eden Equipment of Potchefstroom with their hand seeders. With the 24 ha showground( which includes its own airstrip) dedicated to the Nampo show, seed companies have been able to
Rubber tracks are now available as a retro-fit for older tractors
develop permanent exhibition plantings, a practice that has been adopted from similar agricultural shows worldwide. These plots, along the eastern edge of the grounds, are now in their second year and feature stands of every imaginable crop including different strains of maize and, more importantly, fodder crops for winter grazing, silage etc, such as Japanese radish, sugar beet, various lupins and Brazilian and Russian evergreen fodder grasses. While Nampo boasts of being the largest agricultural show in the southern hemisphere( this year there were more than 700 exhibitors) and while it is certainly the largest agrishow in Africa, by no means every manufacturer, dealer or distributor of agricultural stuff is present each year. Many find the cost and logistics of transporting goods and exhibiting at the show too daunting, especially when other shows, notably the Royal in Pietermaritzburg, Mbombela ' s Lowveld and specialist forestry, dairy and viticulture shows in the Cape, also require attendance.
Hydraulically-powered( as opposed to PTO-driven) chipper
14 www. sasmallholder. co. za