Harare, (New Ziana) -Zimbabwe is on course to achieve a significant grain surplus following a strong agricultural season, with the government projecting a strategic reserve of between 550 945 metric tons and 964 945 metric tons, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Zhemu Soda said this during a post-Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday.
He said the latest Second Round Crops, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment Report showed that the country’s food security outlook remains positive, underlining the transition from a food-deficit nation to a surplus producer of staple crops such as maize and wheat.
Soda said the development has also seen Zimbabwe being removed from global hunger hot spot countries in 2024, with the country now ranked 90 out of 136 nations on the 2025 Global Hunger Index.
“The results serve to confirm that Zimbabwe has made notable strides in national food security, transitioning from deficit to surplus in staple crops like maize and wheat,” he said, attributing the gains to climate-smart agricultural programs such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa, as well as accelerated mechanisation and irrigation development initiatives that the government is spearheading.
He noted that the country harvested 2,341,857 metric tons of maize during the 2025/26 summer cropping season, with Mashonaland West Province recording the highest output, followed by Mashonaland Central.
Sorghum production reached 261 868 metric tons, with Matabeleland South emerging as the leading producer, while soyabean harvests stood at 94 103 metric tons.
Government grain stocks held by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) currently stand at 152 467 metric tons, while formal marketing of crops such as maize, soyabean, sorghum and sunflower reached 82 559 metric tons by April this year, up from 57 755 metric tons during the same period last year.
Soda also said the GMB had cleared all its outstanding United States dollar obligations to farmers and settled more than 82 percent of payments in the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG).
He said in preparation for future food security demands, the government is also expanding storage and grain handling systems.
“It is noteworthy that GMB holds 68 979.600 metric tons of third-party grain stocks since the completion of Artificial Intelligence-powered silos and subsequent offer of commercial storage services directly through the Warehouse Receipt system,” he said.
Soda said Cabinet further noted that the 2026 winter cropping season was progressing well, with 54 percent of the targeted wheat hectarage already planted compared to 35 percent during the same period last year.
Zimbabwe is targeting production of 662,500 metric tonnes of wheat, 50,000 metric tonnes of barley and 243,850 metric tonnes of potatoes under the winter cereals production plan.
Meanwhile, Soda said Zimbabwe had made remarkable progress in agricultural mechanisation and irrigation development, with the country now ranked fourth in Africa in mechanisation development.
The national tractor fleet has increased from 4 466 units in 2015 to 17 220 units this year, while combine harvesters rose from 158 to 403 during the same period.
Functional irrigated land has also expanded from 171 000 hectares in 2017 to 258,773 hectares in 2025, strengthening agricultural productivity and climate resilience across the country.
New Ziana
