Zimbabwe is shifting its agricultural ambitions from simply reclaiming its former status as the region’s breadbasket to becoming a regional agro-industrial hub.
That’s according to the country’s Agriculture Minister, Anxious Masuka.
For decades, Zimbabwe was a major agricultural producer, generating surplus maize, wheat and tobacco for both domestic consumption and export to neighbouring countries.
However, the land reform programme of the early 2000s disrupted much of the country’s large scale commercial farming sector, contributing to a sharp decline in agricultural output.
The sector has also faced growing pressure from recurrent droughts, erratic rainfall and other climate-related shocks.
Speaking to Cabinet ministers during a tour of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s farm in Kwekwe, Masuka said Zimbabwe must produce and export finished and beneficiated agricultural products rather than relying primarily on raw commodities.
The government’s new strategy will shift from simply producing more to producing, processing and exporting more valuable, finished goods.
–SABC–
