Nampo Virtual 2020: what participants can expect

For the first time since 1967, Grain SA’s annual Nampo Harvest Day had to be cancelled this year due to the national lockdown restrictions imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Annelie Coleman reports.

- Annelie Coleman

The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have had a tremendous impact on all industries in South Africa. Agriculture, and organisations such as Grain SA, has not been left untouched.

According to Jannie de Villiers, CEO of Grain SA, the travel and other restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic had forced the organisation to invest in alternative ways to continue with the annual Nampo Harvest Day event.

“That is why we decided on Nampo Virtual. It has always been the vision and mission of Grain SA to use the harvest days as a platform to do business, and to introduce the agricultural industry to new technology. Nampo has, over the years, proven itself as the ideal opportunity for communication between producers and suppliers,” he told Farmer’s Weekly.

Nampo Virtual has been scheduled for 9 to 12 September, and De Villiers was quick to point out that it should not be confused with a webinar or an online meeting.

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