{"id":45396,"date":"2026-09-14T09:52:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45396"},"modified":"2026-09-14T09:52:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:52:55","slug":"zimbabwe-eyes-regional-agro-industrial-hub-status","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/zimbabwe-eyes-regional-agro-industrial-hub-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe eyes regional agro-industrial hub status"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Zimbabwe is shifting its agricultural ambitions from simply reclaiming its former status as the region&#8217;s breadbasket to becoming a regional agro-industrial hub.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">That&#8217;s according to the country&#8217;s Agriculture Minister, Anxious Masuka.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">For decades, Zimbabwe was a major agricultural producer, generating surplus maize, wheat and tobacco for both domestic consumption and export to neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">However, the land reform programme of the early 2000s disrupted much of the country&#8217;s large scale commercial farming sector, contributing to a sharp decline in agricultural output.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The sector has also faced growing pressure from recurrent droughts, erratic rainfall and other climate-related shocks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Speaking to Cabinet ministers during a tour of President Emmerson Mnangagwa&#8217;s farm in Kwekwe, Masuka said Zimbabwe must produce and export finished and beneficiated agricultural products rather than relying primarily on raw commodities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The government&#8217;s new strategy will shift from simply producing more to producing, processing and exporting more valuable, finished goods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43926,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-45396","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Zimbabwe is shifting its agricultural ambitions","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45397,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45396\/revisions\/45397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}