The SANSOR Human Resources Committee focused on a number of issues of importance to the Seed Industry during the period under review.  Meetings, therefore, were arranged in a manner that supported set objectives. SANSOR DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE The aim of this initiative was to initiate and support the training of emerging seed experts in the seed industry.  This initiative had been discussed at length at our HR Meetings and would culminate in a special workshop during the next interim. Implementation would be presented at the SANSOR Annual General Meeting.  It would be important for all role players in the seed industry to support this initiative prior to implementation. SALARY SURVEY FOR THE SEED INDUSTRY The need in the Seed Industry to have a comparable salary bench mark for certain industry specific medium and higher level positions, lead to the salary survey that was conducted among ten participating companies.  The company Human Capital conducted the relevant survey.  The decision to use this specific company was taken because of their experience with an Annual National salary survey.

Mr George Nefdt Chairman: Human Resources Standing Committee

A number of SANSOR members expressed concerns mainly regarding the confidentiality of the survey.  This issue was addressed and the format of the survey had to be adapted to ensure that all participants were happy.  It is envisaged that this survey would be conducted on an annual basis.

The objective of this project was retention of skills in participating companies, but also the seed industry.  SANSOR members who were not involved should seriously re-consider their participation.  This would not only make this whole exercise more affordable to participants, but could also give a better idea of the status of remuneration in this industry.

TRAINING MATERIAL
It was reported at the SANSOR Annual General Meeting that the extremely dedicated group of subject matter experts had completed the unit standards necessary in terms of skills development legislation.  The next challenge would be to develop and compile training material that would address the theoretical aspects of the unit standards and eventual qualifications.

A meeting was held during August 2003 to which all potential service providers were invited and gave inputs as to ways of ensuring that technical training for the industry would be aligned with set unit standards.

A number of other meetings of role players were also held, but the progress on this aspect had been very slow.  The two main reasons were financial constraints and a lack of technical experts who could become involved in this process.

It was subsequently decided to apply for a grant from the National Skills Fund for the development of the necessary training material.  The individuals who were involved in the writing of unit standards would once again be involved in the compilation of the training material.

It should be noted that the relationship with the Technikon Pretoria to present the SANSOR modules would have to be re-assessed.  The above-mentioned technikon confirmed lack of capacity to provide the standard of service and content the seed industry required.  Decisions in this regard would have to be made to ensure that the standard of these modules did not deteriorate in any way.

LEARNERSHIPS
The following qualifications had been submitted to the South African Qualifications Authority for registration:

·          National Certificate Seed Analysis                                     122 credits

·          National Certificate Seed Processing & Packing                    123credits

·          National Certificate Seed Research & Development              125credits

·          Further Education & Training Certificate Seed Marketing       142credits

·          FETC Seed Processing & Packaging                                    142 credits

·          FETC Seed Production                                                       159 credits

·          FETC Seed Research & Development                                   159 credits

Once the qualifications had been registered, learnerships could immediately be implemented.  Learnerships would be finalized during the next few months.

ASSESSOR TRAINING 
During December 2003, a further 12 assessors were trained by the Sector Education & Training Authority for Secondary Agriculture (SETASA).  The roles of these Assessors would be to assess competence of learners on the unit standards.

WORKPLACE SKILLS PLANS
During the past year 71 Seed Companies were registered with SETASA, with a levy income of R 1 506 000.  Thirteen Companies applied for the mandatory grants by submission of Workplace Skills Plans.

CONCLUSION      
A lot of hard work by committed individuals had been going into a number of these HR issues.  At the risk of leaving out anyone I do not want to mention names, but without their input and commitment we would not have been able to progress thus far on this new and sometimes bumpy road.

The SANSOR member enterprises that were prepared to make their experts available for the benefit of the seed industry in Southern Africa should also be commended for their support.