Harare, (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector continues to record encouraging progress across several key crop value chains, with grain, cotton, and tobacco marketing showing strong upward trends, while winter cereal planting moves steadily towards target, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Speaking during Tuesday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere said Cabinet had received and noted the update on the 2024-2025 Summer Crops Marketing and the 2025 Winter Wheat Production Program.
“Deliveries of grains and oilseeds to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) from the 2024-2025 summer production season are on an upward trend. Resources are being mobilised to ensure timely payments for the anticipated deliveries of 120 000 to 150 000 metric tons,” he said.
As of Thursday last week, the country’s Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) held 80 208 metric tons of grain, while the private sector’s maize stocks stood at 48 293 metric tons.
Turning to cotton, Dr. Muswere said the 2025 cotton marketing season officially began on Monday, with minimum seed cotton prices to be paid in a 70:30 ratio between US dollars and the local ZiG currency.
The fixed prices are pegged at US$0.41 per kg for Grade A, US$0.37 per kg for Grade B, US$0.34 per kg for Grade C, and US$0.30 per kg for Grade D.
“This season’s cotton sales are projected to reach 61 000 metric tons, significantly surpassing last season’s total of 13 600 metric tons,” he said, adding that a total of 697 buying points had been set up countrywide, comprising 221 permanent stations and 476 mobile units.
In line with efforts to protect farmers, Dr Muswere emphasised that no cotton bales will be allowed to leave a buying point unless the farmers have been fully paid for their deliveries.
He further announced that merchants would only be permitted to purchase cotton once all outstanding payments from the previous season, including grade differentials, had been settled.
On the tobacco front, Dr Muswere reported a record-breaking performance, noting that as of this Sunday, over 272.7 million kilograms of tobacco valued at US$917.6 million had been sold.
The tobacco was produced by around 135 000 farmers, translating to an average earning of over US$6 700 per farmer.
“This underscores the substantial economic benefits of tobacco production for farming communities, bolstering household incomes and driving economic growth and development in tobacco-growing areas,” said Dr Muswere.
The current volume represents a 41 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024, with daily sales averaging 4.7 million kilograms, an impressive jump from last year’s 2.8 million kilograms.
As for winter cropping, Dr Muswere said production targets for the 2025 season remain unchanged, with the goal of 600 000 metric tons of wheat from 120 000 hectares, 39 000 metric tons of barley from 6 500 hectares, and 236 000 metric tons of potatoes from 8 700 hectares.
By Thursday last week, 105 663 hectares had already been planted under wheat while Barley planting had reached 6 115 hectares, which is 94.1% of the target, and potatoes had been planted on 3 417 hectares.
Dr Muswere said Cabinet was satisfied with the pace of implementation across all the major crop categories and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting the agricultural sector as a key pillar of economic recovery and food security.
New Ziana
