The agricultural sector is buzzing after the appointment of Malapane Thamaga as one of three ministerial representatives on the Maize Trust. At 32, he already has a bird’s eye view of the sector after a three-year stint as national manager of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (Afasa).
Thamaga, who hails from Limpopo, holds BSc and honours degrees in agricultural economics from Stellenbosch University.
Previously, he has also worked as an agricultural economist at the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (Nerpo). Besides Thamaga, the other ministerial representatives are Gift Mafuleka and Zovuyo Ngejana.
Congrats on your big appointment. Did you see it coming? Describe the emotions when you heard that you were hand-picked by agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza.
Being entrusted with the strategic responsibility to give direction and control of the Maize Trust is a big responsibility, especially when you are acting on behalf of the minister.
I am enthralled by this appointment. If anything, it is a recognition that I am doing something right.
Saw it coming? Not at all. These responsibilities are typically reserved for those with more than 30 years’ experience in agriculture or those in their retirement age.
Perhaps it should be made a norm that people as young as myself are entrusted with such big responsibilities to shape the future of this country, especially on important matters such as that of ensuring that the country is food-secured, continues to grow and competes with the best of the best in the globalised world we live in.
The minister probably appreciate this better as she was entrusted with leading the agricultural portfolio in the new government at a younger age, compared to her colleagues.
How has your earlier experience with Afasa prepared you for this moment?
Indeed, the couple of years I have spent at the helm of Afasa will come in handy, and played an important role in this appointment. I had an opportunity to interact with the best of the best in the agricultural sector and key stakeholders who play an important role in ensuring that the country remains competitive.
The day-to-day interaction with leaders such as Aggrey Mahanjana and the late Dr Vuyo Mahlati, among others, was more than adequate in helping one see a part of the world that you don’t really get to experience until you are in that space. There is no educational qualification that can come close to that.
Most importantly, the experience with Afasa, by virtue of its constituency, affords you an opportunity to see how far we have gone and still have to go if we are to achieve the inclusive economic growth envisaged in the National Development Plan 2030 and the new Agriculture and Agroprocessing Master Plan.
At Afasa, for instance, you meet farmers who are producing commercially on communal land solely out of their own efforts and resources, and who remain hopeful that they will eventually make it as beneficiaries of land reform.
You also meet those farmers who have been allocated land through the redistribution or restitution pillars of land reform and are facing challenges ranging from lack of recapitalisation and no water rights to market access challenges.
In the same breath, you meet agripreneurs battling in the agroprocessing or input provision space, who can hardly get the throughput needed to even break even, or face red-tape challenges in acquiring space in the big retail stores or export markets.
Therefore, the role that Afasa plays cannot be taken too lightly and can be overwhelming. You are seen in the eyes of ordinary farmers as the problem solver. Yet, the powers rest elsewhere and yours is to bring the issues of the farmers to the attention of the powers that be.
Perhaps being part of the Maize Trust puts one on the other side of the fence and we would be judged harshly by the impact we can make within this short period of time we will be serving.
What would you like to contribute to the Maize Trust?
I would be putting the cart before the horse if I were to say, with certainty, what must be done to help the Maize Trust achieve its mandate.
Perhaps the best start would be to engage players along the maize value chain to understand the issues that they would like to see addressed by the trust, especially from a transformational point of view. What is important is to ensure that the trust makes an adequate impact in the sector while growing the trust’s financial portfolio to ensure its sustainability.
How would you describe the role of the Maize Trust to people who have possibly never heard of the organisation before?
The democratic dispensation, as achieved in 1994, meant that the country must also undertake policy reforms. Among these key important reforms were the appreciation of the free market system to ensure a competitive agricultural sector.
The key legislation for the agricultural sector was the signing into law of the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act No. 47 of 1996, which brought an end to the marketing boards. The latter were responsible to protect farmers from grain prices fluctuations, among others.
Thus, the end of the Agricultural Marketing Board meant exposure to price fluctuations dictated by supply and demand on the world market. This necessitated the establishment of industry bodies, such as the Maize Trust, and service providers that could supply the necessary information for a sophisticated market to function.
The Maize Trust was therefore responsible for establishing and funding these institutions responsible for the competitive grain market, including the South African Grain Laboratory, South African Grain Information Service, crop estimates, transformation initiatives such as the Grain Farmer Development Agency, research into regenerative agriculture and several annual bursaries and internships.
The Maize Trust inherited more than R300 million in assets from the disbanded Maize Board when it was established in August 1998.
These assets were accrued over several years by the board from the sale of imported maize and surplus funds from other sources.
As of 2019, the trust’s assets were valued at just about R1 billion. It is from these assets that the Maize Trust generate income for use to promote the entire South African maize industry.
It is important to note that funding from the trust can be accessed by any entity in the maize industry which can demonstrate that an intended programme will benefit the industry. Interested parties can visit the Maize Trust website to learn more about how they can become beneficiaries.
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