Agriculture leading Zimbabwe’s economic growth

Zimbabwe’s economic growth potential largely depends on developments in its agriculture sector. The country has 4,13 million hectares of arable land. This was according to a recent report by the United States International Trade Administration (ITA) earlier this year.

It was pointed out in the report that Zimbabwe urgently needed new and updated equipment to improve agricultural production.

It was estimated the country had over 50 000 medium- to large-scale farmers, with 10 300 functional tractors of the 40 000 needed for commercial cultivation.

Tobacco remains the most important cash crop in Zimbabwe in terms of generating foreign exchange.

Farmer’s Weekly recently reported on the fact that Zimbabwe’s tobacco exports increased markedly in the first two months of 2024. A total volume of tobacco of 56 500t was exported in January and February 2024.

This represented a 106% upsurge from the 27 600t exported during the same period in 2023, according to data released by that country’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

“The demand for soya beans in Zimbabwe is growing owing to its use in cooking oil, stock feeds, other foods, and industrial needs.

“Zimbabwe requires about 240 000t of soya beans annually, but local production stands at an estimated

71 290t, enough to meet only 30% of national demand,” according to the authors of the ITA report.

The report stated that the country had the capacity to produce 600 000t of cotton. Despite this potential, Zimbabwe only produced 116 052t in the 2020/21 season. However, the country’s cotton production increased by 67% to

89 600t during the 2022/23 season, statistics from the Agricultural Marketing Authority showed.

Maize was Zimbabwe’s principal food crop, according to the ITA report. Zimbabwe’s staple maize harvest was expected to halve to 1,1 million tons in 2024 due to an El Niño-induced drought, Reuters reported earlier. The country needs about 1,8 million tons of maize annually for human consumption.

Macro-economic challenges and high input costs also contributed to the production drop.

“Zimbabwean commercial farmers produced 375 000t of wheat in 2022, their biggest wheat output since the 1960s. The country harvested enough wheat for local requirements, leaving a small surplus (20 000t) for its strategic reserve,” the report stated.