As farming gets tougher, wool growers will increasingly have to get involved in and take responsibility for their own organisation, according to the National Wool Growers’ Association (NWGA) production adviser, Braam Coetzee.
Speaking at the recent Eastern Cape NWGA regional meeting, Coetzee said the association wants to get inputs from farmers and tackle problems at regional level. EC president Peter Hardie said the International Textile Organisation’s (IWTO) marketing plan had been put on ice. The 10c/kg levy on wool sold at auctions that had been set aside for this had, according to Hardie, not been used because of political wrangling and organisational restructuring, which would hopefully be sorted out at the IWTO gathering in April. Farmers concerned about stock theft and predators asked national parks and game ranchers to exercise better control over their predators. “They have a responsibility towards smallstock farmers, who are the economic backbone of the region, to keep their predators fenced in,” one farmer said. lbie Jacobs, president of the Red Meat Producers Organisation (RPO) announced that plans were afoot for more cooperation between the RPO and the NWGA. “We have so much in common that it’s silly to duplicate everything. After all, most farmers belong to both bodies. One day the president of the might not even be a wool man,” he said. Jacobs feels that the RPO’s promotion campaigns are paying off, particularly in showing the consumer the health benefits of red meat. “I don’t think farmers should worry about organic and green labels. These make up a tiny portion of the market and are difficult to control. At this stage, they’re nothing more than publicity stunts as farmers aren’t benefiting from the higher prices of such meats,” he said. t was also announced that stock remedy company Norbrook had signed a sponsorship with the NWGA. – Roelof Bezuidenhout
