By Zachary Gava
Harare, (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector must move beyond measuring success by production volumes and embrace value addition, technology, market access and stronger partnerships across the economy if the country is to realize its ambitious agricultural transformation targets, the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Water Resources Development has said.
Speaking at a stakeholder engagement meeting during the 116th edition of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show on Tuesday, Director of Business Development in the Ministry, Abraham Mashumba, who was delivering remarks on behalf of Agriculture Minister Dr Anxious Masuka, said the country could no longer afford to view agriculture as an isolated, seasonal activity.
The engagement, organized by the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), was held under the 2026 Zimbabwe Agricultural Show theme, “Powering Growth: Where Agriculture, Technology and Commerce Converge”
Masuka commended ZAS and ZNCC for creating a platform that brings together stakeholders from agriculture, industry, commerce and finance, saying such convergence was critical to transforming the sector and the wider economy.
“For too long, agriculture was viewed in isolation as a seasonal activity that we used to measure primarily by tonnage or some such other measure,” he said.
“That measure remains important, yes. We still pride in our tonnage, we still pride in our egg production, etc., but it is no longer sufficient.”
He said the more important question was how much value Zimbabwe could create from what it produces, stressing that the country’s agricultural transformation agenda was now anchored on building competitive value chains rather than simply increasing production.
Masuka said the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSTS2), which succeeds the first strategy that ran up to 2025, sets an ambitious target of growing the agricultural economy to US$15.8 billion by 2030.
“To us, it’s a very achievable target, though it may sound ambitious,” he said, adding that the target was supported by successes already recorded under the country’s previous agricultural transformation blueprint.
He said achieving the target would, however, require agriculture to work closely with other sectors, particularly manufacturing, financial services, technology, retail and commerce.
Agriculture, he noted, supplies more than 60 percent of the raw materials used by Zimbabwe’s industrial sector, but production itself depends heavily on inputs and services from other industries, including fertiliser, seed, mechanisation and financial services.
“The Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy is built on the principle that agriculture is not just about production, but it is part of a powerful system of value chains,” Masuka said.
“It connects the farmer to the factory, and trusting that the factory is connecting to the retailer, and the retailer connecting to the consumer. You see how, as agriculture, we become just part of a chain of production in our economy.”
He said the sector’s priorities were to “produce more, process more, trade more, and of course earn more”, but emphasized that these objectives could only be achieved through greater integration with other sectors.
The Ministry also called for a shift in mindset among agricultural stakeholders, with Masuka urging producers to focus not only on what they can produce, but whether they can produce competitively, at the required quality and in quantities demanded by specific markets.
He said access to formal markets required consistency, quality, food safety, traceability and reliable volumes, describing these requirements not as obstacles but as essential components of a modern agricultural economy.
“Our shared responsibility is to ensure that our farmers, particularly our smallholder and emerging producers, have the knowledge, the infrastructure, and the financial support to meet these standards, and also for them to claim a place in these lucrative value chains,” he said.
Technology was identified as another major pillar of the country’s agricultural transformation agenda, with the Ministry highlighting artificial intelligence, precision farming, digital platforms and biotechnology as tools capable of improving productivity and competitiveness.
Masuka said Zimbabwe now needed to move beyond showcasing emerging technologies, and ensure that this was deployed commercially at farm level.
“Technology must move beyond demonstrations and exhibitions; it must reach the farm, it must solve real problems, it must reduce costs, it must improve yields, and help farmers make better commercial decisions,” he said.
He cited production costs as one of the areas requiring urgent attention if Zimbabwe is to compete effectively on regional and international markets.
“Technology with a purpose is what will drive our sector forward,” Masuka said, stressing the importance of innovation in improving the competitiveness of Zimbabwean agriculture.
He said Zimbabwe should also seek to position itself beyond being a supplier of raw agricultural products and develop into a regional hub for agro-processing and industrialisation, particularly within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Masuka said the US$15.8 billion agricultural economy target could not be achieved by government and farmers alone, calling for stronger participation from the private sector.
“We will not achieve it alone. I think the underlying issue about convergence is that we need to work together for a better economy, for a bigger economy,” he said.
He urged financial institutions to expand support to agriculture, technology companies to develop practical solutions for farmers, retailers to strengthen local sourcing, and processors to increase investment in value addition.
He also called on business organisations such as ZAS and ZNCC to continue providing platforms where different stakeholders can engage, identify opportunities and develop partnerships.
Masuka said the convergence of these sectors was essential not only for the transformation of agriculture but also for achieving broader national objectives centred on food sovereignty and security, nutrition security, improved livelihoods and the growth of the agricultural economy.
The 2026 show theme, “Powering Growth: Where Agriculture, Technology and Commerce Converge”, therefore comes at a critical moment as Zimbabwe seeks to build a more integrated, technology-driven and value-oriented agricultural economy.
New Ziana
