NAMPO VIRTUAL: The show goes online

Nampo Harvest Day has become a staple on the South African agricultural calendar. And while COVID-19 means that the physical event cannot continue, the show goes on.

For over 60 years, the Nampo Harvest Day (Nampo) has been an important date on the agricultural calendar. With over 75 000 visitors last year, as well as 680 exhibitors, it was expected that 2020 would be much the same, only with more visitors and more exhibitors. Then, in March this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. In line with the lockdown regulations that banned gatherings of more than 50 people, Grain SA initially announced that Nampo 2020, which was due to take place mid-May, would be postponed until August. When it became clear that COVID-19 was not going anywhere in a hurry, and with the extension of the lockdown and the associated regulations, Nampo was cancelled until 2021.

This is not where the story ends, however. Grain SA recently announced the launch of Nampo Virtual, an online platform that ensures Nampo can still continue, even if not as a live event with a physical home. While the virtual event may not have the clout of the traditional Nampo Harvest Day, Grain SA and exhibitors from across the agricultural value chain have promised to make it a memorable experience by not only meeting the ‘old’ expectations of Nampo Harvest Day, but by introducing new and innovative means for farmers and exhibitors to interact. Nampo Harvest Day has become renowned not only for its agricultural equipment exhibitions, but also for its exhibits of various livestock animals, its boerekos, such as vetkoek and pancakes, and its beer tents. It is also known for its boerepatente competition, in which farmers and farmers’ children invent innovative means by which to complete everyday farm activities.

HOW WILL NAMPO VIRTUAL COMPARE?