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The South African Cultivar and Technology Agency (Sacta) have distributed just over R200 million – sourced from statutory levies – to seed companies and technology license holders for investment in their breeding and technology programmes.
“South Africa has amongst the fastest rates of agricultural improvements in the world,” Andrew Bennett, CEO of Sacta, said during the agency’s annual stakeholder engagement meeting held in Pretoria in August. “While one could ask if these improvements are driven by better genetics and seed technology, or better farming practices, the answer is: both!”
Bumper crop = bumper levies
Due to a bumper soya bean harvest in the previous financial year, Sacta was able to distribute R147,151 million to seed and technology companies operating in that field. During the same year R62,46 million was distributed to seed technology companies that produce seeds for self-pollinating winter crops, specifically wheat, barley, oats, and lupins.
Table 1: Breakdown of costs per R100 levy collected:
| Category | Amount |
| Distribution to seed companies | R74,99 |
| Commission for levy collectors | R2,50 |
| Sacta’s administration cost | R3,00 |
| Socio-economic | R0,98 |
| Transformation management | R3,32 |
| Skills development | R3,51 |
| Enterprise development | R11,70 |
Bennett said the current reporting year’s redistribution of levy funds would probably be less impressive since a smaller harvest is expected. However, it would still be significant.
Since its establishment in 2016, Sacta has been the legitimate central institution which administers the breeding levies for all self-pollinated grain and oilseed crops, specifically wheat, barley, soya beans, and some canola cultivars.
Cultivar registration continues
Ryk Pretorius, chairperson of Sacta, said the association’s focus remains the management and collection of levies to support the vision that all South Africans should be able to access technology that would enable them to remain globally competitive. As South Africa functions in a free market system within a volatile world, it is critical that risk should be shared by all role-players within the value chain.
Since Sacta’s inception, Pretorius has witnessed a massive change in the release of new seed technology in this space. “We have seen 17 new wheat cultivars registered, nine new barley cultivars, six new oat cultivars, and 130 new soya bean cultivars. We do hope that the red tape for seed registration gets shorter.” He noted that less bureaucracy would benefit farmers, technical researchers, breeders, and seed companies. “In the end Sacta’s purpose is to find a common solution for food security.”
Although a few soya bean cultivars have been deregistered over the years, this was simply due to newer technologies replacing outdated ones, according to Bennet. – Susan Marais, Plaas Media
Full financial statements will be released on sactalevy.co.za.
