The Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) Insurance Company has been challenged to tailor-make insurance packages for smallholder farmers to enable them to benefit from farming and contribute towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
This came out yesterday when Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka was announcing members to the AFC Insurance Company board.
The appointment of board members is with effect from January 12.
Mrs Ruth Ncube will chair the board, whose other members are Ms Shamiso Chikobvu, CFU president Mr Andrew Pascoe, Ms Loveness Mhindurwa, Mrs Joyce Benza and Mr Kura Sibanda.
Minister Masuka said the appointment came at a critical stage when insurance companies are required to play a role towards the attainment of Vision 2030, guided by the National Development Strategy (NDS1) and the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy.
“The board is to support the overall agrarian transformation process for accelerated development of the country. Its role is also to ensure expansion of provision of agriculture and rural insurance services across the entire agriculture value chain from communal, old resettlement, A1 and A2 so they develop self-sustaining mechanisms for insurance companies,” said Minister Masuka.
“The board should also improve the internal capacity and internal competencies to generate requisite efficiencies, seamless services and ensure that the above objectives are met through robust strategies and plans
“We want to see in agriculture Vision 2030 attainment of a prosperous and empowered upper middle income society.”
Minister Masuka said for Vision 2030 to be attained, agriculture should be pursued differently at every scale, starting at household level to see agriculture as a business.
“The 2,6 million rural households must be transformed from subsistence farming to surplus-oriented farming and this is why we have introduced Pfumvudza/ Intwasa and given them a maximum of five plots.
“The first plot for their substance and the remainder for orienting them towards surplus-oriented farming. They become economic participants and not spectators,” said Minister Masuka.
He said the 360 000 A1 and Old Resettlement farmers must transition from surplus-oriented farming to commercial farming while the 21 000 A2 farmers must be transformed to become perennially successful businesspeople.
“We need to look at the risk in agriculture. With the collapse of the brick and mortar insurance and coming in of these innovations, comes the setting up of the AFC to be able to enter this financing space and fill this void that has been created by the collapse of brick and mortar collateral.
“AFC has such a huge opportunity which is why it has four windows, AFC Land and Development Bank which focuses on providing innovative financing for agriculture irrespective of scale,” he said.
The Land and Development Bank has been directed to reach out to many farmers at the smallholder level.
Minister Masuka said they were looking at 35 000 hectares coming from 35 000 villages, implying a hectare per village under the Presidential Rural Development Programme.
“I also see the AFC commercial bank being able to bank the unbanked; the 2,6 million households are the AFC commercial bank’s clients and will have bank accounts because they now work on their schemes,” he said.
The AFC leasing company would also provide farmers to hire implements and equipment.
Minister Masuka said these were some of the risks that must be looked after in a robust, innovative way by AFC insurance.
AFC Insurance board chairperson, Mrs Ncube, has vast experience in insurance and understands the rural set up and context for women and girls working in those areas.
She said insurance was critical in agriculture especially with the negative effects of climate change such as cyclones and other natural disasters.
Mrs Ncube said Government programmes such as the Pfumvudza/ Intwasa, which are targeted at transforming farmers into businesspeople, will not prosper without insurance.
“Insurance is critical at every angle and it must be practised. I am excited our board is ready and will work flat out,” she said.