adminWALKING among us are individuals who quietly go about their work and make a huge impact on those privileged to have worked with them or transformed by their work. People who initiate ideas and projects that are sometimes ahead of their time and therefore never live long enough to witness their efforts come to fruition. Nonetheless, their initiatives are always available and are passed on for implementation when the time is right. The agricultural sector has lost one such individual.
When the farming landscape of Zimbabwe began to change in the mid-1990s, one of the major challenges the country faced was on how to conform the mind view of the empowered black farmer towards agricultural activities. Until then, the indigenous farmer was programmed to believe his or her activities on the land were purely subsistence to the established commercial activities of the favoured few.
One man took up the challenge to change this. His name was Maxmilan Toringa Uzande who, despite his stature as a successful businessman and the first person in Zimbabwe to sell over one million dollars worth of insurance, he was simply known as Max or M’dara Uzande. And so it was with deep sadness that the farming community and in particular the small-scale or rural farming community learnt of his death. He suffered a heart ailment and defect which doctors conceded was not repairable. Max succumbed to his illness on 5 October 2016, at the age of 70 at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare and was laid to rest at the Uzande homestead in Chikukwa Village in Mhondoro, Mashonaland West.
As described to this writer by his first-born son Peter Uzande, Max “did what he did out of passion and sheer energy”. The late Max Uzande believed his obligation to the smallholder farmer was to unlock the value of their operations to the level of commercialisation. He was convinced that this sector of the farming industry needed information, affirmation and the recognition it deserved. And in order to achieve this, he formed Jupiter Insurance which introduced agricultural insurance designed specifically for smallholder and rural farmers. His logic was that if this farmer was encouraged to insure his farming business, it was a step in the right direction towards taking his farming seriously and shaking off the image that he was not essential to the overall picture. Before 1994 and despite recorded facts that 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s agricultural output was produced by non-commercial activities, due recognition remained subdued as little consideration was given to the small-scale farmers.
At first, the concept of ensuring crops, implements and livestock proved too new and difficult for the smallholder farmer to understand. However, albeit the resistance and discouragement, Max did not give up and kept the same message which he repeated incessantly on his nationwide visits with farmers. Farmer organisations and other entities involved in crop and livestock activities soon took Jupiter Insurance on board and promoted the insurance package. Today, it is a concept slowly being adopted by other players who have accepted the baton to move to the next level as confirmed by the president of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, Abdul Credit Nyathi who said the country’s smallholder farmers had suffered a great loss at the passing of Max Uzande.
“Uzande was the first man in Zimbabwe to realise how much smallholder farmers were losing their crops and in particular their livestock and based on that, he came up with a model that added value to their operations”.
“He successfully mobilised farmers for awareness programmes and in time, assured farmers were able to borrow against their insurance from banks and other financial institutions”, said Nyathi.
And in time, Government also took up the model as did other insurance companies who had earlier disregarded the package.
Journalist and award winning writer on farming activities in relation to climatic conditions, Busani Bafana, acknowledged that agricultural insurance “is now more than ever, pivotal because of losses linked to climate change”.
“Agricultural Insurance was not understood by farmers who had for so long relied on their sixth sense and extension services which are currently poorly equipped to assist them,” said Bafana.
Max Uzande believed farmers and in particular livestock producers were obligated to insure their assets not only as a way of being regarded with respect by business in general but as a shield against the cross section of eventualities often linked to climatic conditions and human activities such as theft. The thought of farmers being left helpless against no fault of their own, haunted him.
While Max’s concerns encompassed every area of farming, his one true passion was the livestock industry. And this was translated in his company — Jupiter Insurance’s joint activities with the Cold Storage Company Limited (CSC) and Zimbabwe Republic Police Anti Stock Theft Unit.
In 1995, Jupiter Insurance and the CSC teamed up to boost the ZRP’s efforts towards curbing stock theft while encouraging farmers to brand their animals. The two companies literally raised the profile of the little known police unit into becoming a force to be reckoned with and a point of reference for other Southern African countries such as Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia.
Livestock expert and farmer, Maxwell Mbendela confirmed that there has been a shift in smallholder farming activities since the start of the land reform to date, “the low rains and harsh climatic conditions have somewhat urged farmers to insure their activities”.
Mbendela said farmers were beginning to understand that their efforts should be systematic and that they ought to operate like any other business activity and expect to profit from their work as well as walk into any bank for the finance they need.
“However, some farmers are engaging in activities to survive in the meantime and not because they do not understand the need to insure their mombes and crops as well as their equipment,” he said.
Phil Mawubire a long-term mentee to the late Max Uzande said his former boss and friend had been “a wonderful person to work with and he always wanted us to be on the same page with him”.
“He was someone who never held back and was open to sharing information and ideas and I personally learnt a lot from him”, said Mawubire.
As someone who has worked with the late Max Uzande, I feel he did what he could to set the ball rolling towards the economic empowerment of smallholder and rural farmers and that it is now for the rest of business and farmer organisations as well as Government to take it up from there.
We will definitely miss his energy and patience and incredible business insight. Rest in Peace.
Patience Madambi is a senior journalist and public relations practitioner
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