Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
Government-facilitated and private sector-driven policies initiated by the Second Republic have seen the agriculture industry rising 100 percent from US$5,2 billion in 2020 to US$10,3 billion at the end of 2025, President Mnangagwa has said.
This was a 26 percent overshot of the US$8,2 billion target by 2025 set under the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 1 (AFSRTS 1).
In his foreword on the launch of the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS 2), President Mnangagwa commended the Ministry of Agriculture for exceeding its set target in spite of drought challenges that negatively impacted production and productivity in the sector.
“In August 2020, I launched the ambitious Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, later named the ‘Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 1’ to provide, under the National Development Strategy 1, the sector roadmap for the sustainable, inclusive and climate-smart transformation of the sector from a US$5.2 billion industry to a US$8.2 billion industry by 2025.
“I commend the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development for the accelerated implementation of this Strategy, which has seen the sector grow to a US$10.3 billion industry by 2025, despite the negative impact of the worst drought in over forty years in the 2023/2024 season.”
President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe’s transformation from a low-income to an inclusive, diverse, modern and prosperous upper middle-income economy is underpinned by agriculture, as the economy is agro-based.
The President said it had become necessary to craft the Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2: 2026-2030 (AFSRTS 2: 2026-2030), under the National Development Strategy (NDS 2), as the country journeys towards Vision 2030.
“This AFSRTS 2 emphasises the resilience of the agricultural sector, based on the principles of climate-proofed agriculture, to ensure perennial food security, away from the episodic and weather-determined food security escapades of the past.
“This will assure the nation of food sovereignty. Concurrent with this effort, there will be improved nutrition for communities through a food systems approach to agricultural production.
“Resultantly, there will be better livelihoods for communities, and increased contribution of agriculture to economic development. These developments will be buttressed by a robust and secure land tenure and administration system,” he said.
The historic land reform programme is irreversible and is being entrenched to increase production and productivity through the issuance of bankable and transferable title deeds.
The Government has adopted a new land tenure regime in line with Section 292 — read together with Sections 289, 293 and 294 — of the Constitution that obligates the State to give security of tenure to every person to alienate for value-added land, among other requirements.
This process is being coordinated by the Office of the President and Cabinet, with the Cabinet Oversight Committee and Land Tenure Implementation Committee (LTIC) put in place to supervise the programme.
The President launched the issuance of title deeds on December 20, 2024, in Kwekwe, with 10 farmers receiving their title deeds, another 1 000 AI farmers were given land title in Mazowe.
Farmers are being issued with deeds of transfer, which bestow private ownership and full land rights to the beneficiary.
All land reform beneficiaries with valid tenure documents qualify for the issuance of title deeds.
An estimated 24 000 A2 and 360 000 A1 farmers are expected to be given title deeds.
The Government has engaged the private sector to enhance the surveying of farms, and has embraced the use of modern technology to expedite the work.
“A whole of government approach, and our mantra ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/llizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo’, should motivate and guide the sector to accelerate implementation of this Strategy for the attainment of Vision 2030,” he added.
Under AFSRTS 2, the gross value of agriculture production is set to rise 53 percent from US$10,3 billion in 2025 to US$15,8 billion by 2030 as a result of considerable growth in various sub-sectors.
Zimbabwe seeks to be a food, feed, bio-oils and bio-fuels secure agro-industrial hub by 2030 and move away from the food basket status of the past.
The 53 percent growth will be anchored by growth in food crop, horticulture, fisheries, milk, indigenous chicken and broiler eat production as well as growth in the cattle herd.
As Zimbabwe targets its 2030 objective of being a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society, the agriculture sector plays a key role in the actualisation of that vision.
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