Rutendo Nyeve [email protected]
ZIMBABWE has firmly cemented its status as a global agricultural powerhouse, with the tobacco industry serving as an example of how science and fact-led interventions can transform rural livelihoods.
Speaking at the official opening of the CORESTA Congress 2026 in Victoria Falls on Monday, Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, Dr Anxious Jongwe Masuka, spoke on the remarkable turnaround of the sector, attributing its success to a relentless focus on research and innovation.
Addressing over 320 delegates from 33 countries, Dr Masuka emphasised that the country’s agricultural trajectory is anchored on four key pillars – productive agriculture, food and nutrition security, innovation and resilience, and competitive growth.
“How Zimbabwe makes agriculture science- and fact-led is through a deliberate cycle of generating science, validating and regulating it, translating it to farmers, and using data to adapt,” Dr Masuka said.
“Turning scientific evidence into farmer practice and national progress is not just a policy; it’s our national reality.”
As a result, Zimbabwe now stands as the first tobacco producer in Africa, fourth globally, and third exporter worldwide.
The crop contributes US$1.2 billion in export earnings, accounting for 25 percent of the country’s agricultural exports and 50 percent of the agricultural GDP, while supporting an estimated two million people directly and indirectly.
Crucially, this prosperity is shared.
Dr Masuka said approximately 95 percent of registered growers are smallholders, who are responsible for a phenomenal 85 percent of the national output.
“Through inclusive participation, we’re ensuring empowered smallholder growers, with youth and women actively participating in agriculture.
“We’re delivering higher productivity and quality, climate resilience, and sustainability,” he said.
Minister Masuka pointed to specific research breakthroughs that have driven productivity from a low of 792 kg/ha in 2008 to an ambitious projection of 358 million kg for 2026. These include the development of locally bred varieties like K RK23, which offer up to 5,000 kg/ha yield potential and incorporate nine disease resistances.
“Research strengthens industry competitiveness when innovation reaches the grower,” Dr Masuka said.
He also lauded the adoption of water planting techniques and improved curing technologies, which have reduced wood consumption by 78 percent.
As the industry targets a US$7 billion value by 2030 and aims to increase local value addition from 11 percent to 30 percent, the minister assured that growth would remain aligned with global ESG standards.
“We’re committed to sustainable production and responsible practices. This includes afforestation programmes, eliminating child labour through trained growers, and developing digital traceability
“From research to rural prosperity, our science-led innovation is delivering higher productivity, climate resilience, and a thriving rural economy,” he said.
The significance of the Congress returning to Zimbabwe was not lost on the international delegates.
Ms Helena Digard, president of the CORESTA Board, expressed her deep appreciation for the local hosting arrangements.
“Just want to say it’s a huge honour for CORESTA to be here and the support that KUTSAGA given for us to be here and hold the congress here. It’s an important partnership, the leaf side of nicotine and tobacco products which is the science focus with CORESTA,” Ms Digard said.
“So, it’s very important that we be involved and we can continue to develop and invest time in the science for tobacco and the agriculture around tobacco, as well as the other sciences in terms of the product. Then they link together and we can deliver one concise end-to-end science package ensuring that the tobacco that is grown by the farmers is the most productive so they get the most profit or value out of their props, while ensuring that the use of the products gets the best price as well, by making sure that the needs fit the products that they’re going to be developed into.”
Echoing these sentiments, Mr Aaron Denenga, the Kutsaga board chairman, reflected on the historical significance of the event.
“Without getting into much of the technicalities in terms of the outcomes, I think one thing that this congress is definitely showing, if we look back, the first CORESTA Congress was held here in
Zimbabwe in 1963. Now we’ve come back 63 years later, we’ve managed to attract over 320 delegates coming from around the world,” Mr Denenga said.
“Which is again showing that I think as Zimbabwe, even as Kutsaga and Pera B, that we’re still well-known in terms of gathering the amount of international people representing 33 countries to be able to look at the science and research and reducing harm to back in the world. Zimbabwe has been the place that has been chosen to host such an event.”
The Congress, running from October 25 to 29, serves highlights Zimbabwe’s enduring role in global agricultural science and its commitment to a sustainable, prosperous, and science-driven tobacco value chain.
