3. Committee Observations The Committee made the following observations during the oversight visit: . While the ARC is doing some work on smallholder farmers, due to lack of research funding from Government and the apparent need for more focus on smallholder farmers, most of the ARC's research activities are still focused at the commercial sector as it is able to pay for the services. . The OBP, as a National Key Point company, was not getting sufficient funding from Government to sustain itself. . The OBP is not just a profit making company; it also provides services to farmers in the country and manufactures orphan vaccines (i.e. those vaccines that are produced by OBP at their own cost for the public good). . Some provincial departments and local governments do not fully support OBP by exclusively buying their vaccines for distribution to respective farmers in provinces. . Both the ARC and OBP do not have restraint of trade policies that form part of their personnel retention strategies to prevent loss of expertise. . The Committee supported the OBP's initiative of having a day's workshop to ensure that vaccines are available to farmers when they need them.