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
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