Staying alive with Fresh in a Box

THE appearance in my driveway of a muscular dude clad in dark clothes and wearing a black mask would normally have given me pause for thought and more than a twinge of apprehension. But it was Tuesday morning, and I was expecting a delivery of vegetables from Fresh in a Box.

A cornucopia of top quality vegetables

The smiling delivery man (you can detect a smile behind a mask by a crinkling around the eyes) deposited a box overflowing with fresh produce on my doorstep, and sped off in a large white van. Many more deliveries had yet to be made throughout the suburbs of Harare.

Vendor-in-Chief at Fresh in a Box is @begottensun Kuda Musasiwa, a multi-talented entrepreneur, whose farming career began by chance two years ago, when, for an alternative source of income, he started growing tomatoes in a single green house. The project took off, and Musasiwa now runs a thriving enterprise at Glen Forest, growing seventeen different kinds of vegetables and providing jobs for upwards of twenty employees. A farm manager with a degree in agriculture and two agronomists keep everything running smoothly.

Unpacking the box in the kitchen, I found an assortment of seasonal vegetables that looked as though they had been picked at dawn. Nothing had journeyed from a neighbouring country, or been packed in a plastic container and shrouded in cling film. No slugs rampaged through the leaves of a crisp Iceberg lettuce with a large, well-formed heart, the spinach was dark green and fresh, the tomatoes glowed ruby red against a pile of smooth, orange carrots, and a snow white cauliflower gleamed alongside green peppers, half a yellow pumpkin and a purple bunch of baby beetroot. Green beans, potatoes, onions, a cucumber , a butternut squash and a large cabbage were carefully packed into this cornucopia of delicious produce.

Deliveries by Fresh in a Box in the time of coronavirus and lockdown couldn’t have been better timed. Although shopping trips to buy food and other essentials are permitted, many people, especially aging baby boomers, are nervous to venture outside, even when wearing a mask. Payments for delivery are made online, and there’s no need to handle paper money, or to insert your debit card into a well-used swipe machine.

Although Kuda Masisiwa studied computer science at City, University of London, a love of the land and agriculture is in his DNA. Born in Mbare, he remembers a small garden crowded with flourishing paw paw and mango trees, flowers and vegetables, all tended by his mother. When the family moved to Sydney in Australia, where his father studied for a PhD in Theology, it was Kuda’s job to water the plants in his mother’s vegetable allotment.

Kuda’s paternal and maternal grandfathers farmed in Gutu and Wedza respectively, and both worked as madumeni (agricultural demonstrators), travelling into rural areas to demonstrate good farming practices. Fresh in a Box remains connected to rural agriculture, and an agronomist is in touch with 1,900 small scale farmers, who form the main supply chain required to satisfy numerous schools, hotels and businesses.

It’s not just about making money, and coming from a strong Christian background, Kuda is running a conscious business enterprise that benefits humanity and the environment, while continuing to make a profit. Ten per cent of all produce is given via soup kitchens and charities to people in need, and after Cyclone Idai wrought havoc in Chimanimani, fifty truckloads of staples were donated to the relief effort.

In the time of coronavirus, every group of society must address the essentials of staying alive. Fresh in a Box, with its ability to supply and deliver top quality fresh produce, needs to be supported.

A Matter of Taste with Charlotte Malakoff

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