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LOCAL millers will not incur additional costs for importing high-gluten wheat varieties not produced domestically, a Cabinet Minister has confirmed. The announcement allays fears that bread prices might rise if millers were to be charged extra for importing wheat under Statutory Instrument 87 of 2025 (SI 87).
The statutory instrument, gazetted under the Agricultural Marketing Authority Act, tightens import regulations on grains — including wheat — to promote local production.
SI 87 introduces a pricing mechanism requiring grain importers to pay the difference between the landed import parity price and the local production parity to the Agricultural Revolving Fund, which supports future agricultural financing. This raised concerns that the added costs would be passed on to consumers, potentially increasing bread prices.
However, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, has clarified that wheat varieties not produced locally will be exempt from these additional charges.
According to Minister Masuka, Zimbabwe is set to record another bumper wheat harvest in the 2025 season, eliminating the need to import ordinary wheat. He noted that a cumulative total of 518 659 tonnes had been harvested during the current season — well above the national annual requirement, conservatively estimated at 360 000 tonnes.
“However, certain millers have indicated that their mills and bread styles require higher gluten content wheat, which cannot be achieved with locally produced varieties. As per current policy, such wheat, which is not produced locally, will continue to be imported under existing pronouncements and import application procedures, without incurring additional costs,” Minister Masuka said in a statement.
The Minister emphasised that availability, accessibility and affordability are central to the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy.
“Government, through the Grain Marketing Board, has made over 6,518 tonnes available in recent weeks to various millers to stabilise supply and ensure the consistent availability of appropriate quality wheat. The current stability in wheat product prices is partly due to this timely intervention. This must be sustained,” he said.
Minister Masuka encouraged any registered miller, in terms of the Agricultural Marketing Authority Act (Chapter 18:24), to approach the Government for support in order to maintain the momentum in stabilising wheat supply and demand.
He also took the opportunity to “congratulate the 16 362 farmers who produced wheat during the 2025 season, and to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of the various enablers and the productive, inclusive and participatory whole-of-sector approach adopted since the advent of the Second Republic, which has delivered these remarkable achievements in such a short space of time.”
Zimbabwe is now one of only two jurisdictions on the African continent to have achieved wheat self-sufficiency, having increased production from a modest 158 515 metric tonnes in 2017 to 562 091 metric tonnes in 2024.
