Online Reporter
Tapiwanashe MangwiroZimpapers Business Hub
The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) has stated that the all-items ZiG Producer Price Index for Agriculture (PPIA) rose by 2,2 percent between March and April 2025, marking a moderation from the 3,5 percent month-on-month increase recorded in March.
“This means that prices as measured by the all-items ZiG PPIA increased by an average of 2,2 percent from March 2025 to April 2025,” ZimStat explained in its May report.
The PPIA focuses on the prices that farmers get when they sell their produce, livestock, or other agricultural goods.
This is often referred to as the “farmgate price” or the “first point of sale,” before the products go through further processing, transportation, or retail markups.
Behind this uptick, ZimStat highlighted that crop and animal products, alongside hunting and related services, were the primary drivers of the acceleration in April. These sub-sectors have continued to underpin producer returns, even as broader economic headwinds, ranging from fuel costs to transport bottlenecks, impose upward pressure on farmgate prices.
In absolute terms, the ZiG PPIA index value rose to 228,96 in April 2025, up from 224,00 in March 2025. By setting March’s index at 100 percent, ZimStat’s proprietary index thus reflects an average 2,2 percent increase in the prices received by domestic agricultural producers over that period.
This benchmark allows policymakers and market participants to track inflationary trends at the very first point of sale, before commodities enter domestic processing or international export channels.
At its core, the Producer Price Index for Agriculture (PPIA) measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers of farm products.
It is calculated by comparing the index value of the reference month with that of a base period, and then expressing the change as a percentage.
By capturing price movements at the farmgate, the PPIA serves as an early-warning indicator of cost-push inflation coming through the food supply chain, as well as of farmers’ bargaining power vis-à-vis intermediaries.
Year-on-year, the picture is even more pronounced, with the ZiG PPIA leaping by 129 percent in April 2025 compared with April 2024.
“This means that prices as measured by the all-items ZiG PPIA increased by an average of 129,0 percent from April 2024 to April 2025,” the report noted.
Drought-induced supply shortfalls in late 2024, combined with elevated fertiliser and transport costs, have contributed to this steep annual ascent, placing considerable strain on downstream processors and consumer food baskets.
Turning to the US dollar-denominated PPIA, ZimStat reported a slight month-to-month contraction of 0,6 percent in April. The index fell to 109.97 from 110.63 in March 2025.
“The products that have contributed to the decrease in the April 2025 index were fishing and aquaculture,” according to the agency’s summary.
Fluctuations in the exchange rate, along with softer global demand for certain seafood exports, have weighed on dollar receipts for agricultural exporters.
Despite this quarterly softness, export prices have still enjoyed positive growth over the past year, with the US dollar PPIA climbing by 10,0 percent between April 2024 and April 2025.
“This means that prices as measured by the all-items USD PPIA increased by an average of 10 percent from April 2024 to April 2025,” ZimStat added. The discrepancy between strong local currency gains and more modest dollar-denominated increases underscores the impact of exchange rate volatility on Zimbabwe’s competitiveness abroad.
ZimStat’s Weighted Producer Price Index for Agriculture, which assigns sub-sector weights based on each segment’s share of total agricultural output, registered a modest 0,2 per cent month-on-month rise in April, following a 1,8 per cent increase in March.
The index climbed to 135,70 from 135,41. “The products that have contributed to the rise in the April 2025 index were crop and animal production, hunting and related activities,” ZimStat reported.
On an annual basis, the weighted index surged by 35,7 percent year-on-year, reflecting widespread price pressures across both crop and livestock sub-industries. Unlike the all-items ZiG index, this weighted measure smooths out headline swings by calibrating the impact of each sub-sector according to its economic significance.
Taken together, these figures from ZimStat’s May release paint a multifaceted portrait of Zimbabwe’s agricultural price environment. While recent monthly increases have decelerated in both nominal and dollar terms, annual comparisons reveal persistent and, in many cases, accelerating inflationary trends at the farm level.
With input costs still elevated and exchange rate dynamics in flux, the PPIA will remain a critical barometer for farmers deciding planting plans, processors forecasting margins, and policymakers crafting interventions to stabilise food prices.
