Online Reporter
Precious Manomano-Herald Reporter
Across Zimbabwe’s countryside, a quiet but far-reaching transformation is taking shape as a suite of rural development initiatives reshapes livelihoods, production systems, and local economies.
The sweeping programme, rolled out under the Zimbabwe Rural Development 8.0 framework, brings together a comprehensive set of rural empowerment schemes targeting more than 10 million people, with a strong focus on food security, industrialisation, climate resilience, infrastructure development, and income generation.
At the heart of the initiative is the Second Republic’s vision of building a prosperous, inclusive upper middle-income economy by 2030 — one that leaves no community behind and ensures rural Zimbabwe becomes a driver of national growth.
For decades, rural communities have battled poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, and limited access to water, electricity, markets, and modern farming inputs.
Many households relied on subsistence agriculture, vulnerable to drought, pests, and climate change, while young people migrated to cities in search of work.
The Rural Development 8.0 initiative seeks to reverse that trajectory by turning rural areas into centres of production, processing, and enterprise.
Ten Schemes, One Agenda
The Zimbabwe Rural Development 8.0 initiatives are implemented through ten flagship Presidential Schemes that collectively target food production, nutrition, income generation, climate resilience, and infrastructure development.
These include:
Presidential Inputs Scheme
Presidential Cotton Scheme
Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Programme
Presidential Rural Horticulture Scheme
Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme
Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme
Presidential Rural Goat Pass-on Scheme
Presidential Solar Scheme
Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme
Presidential Rural Development Programme
The schemes were crafted to confront entrenched poverty, unemployment, and malnutrition in rural areas while laying the foundation for sustainable economic activity and rural-based industries.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri, said the programmes are a key pillar of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, which aims to grow agriculture into a US$14 billion industry.
“The Government has crafted the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy which seeks to grow the agriculture sector to a US$14 billion industry, focusing on climate-proofing the sector at the individual household level through the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme and dam construction to enhance large-scale farming. We should see value addition in the rural areas.”
A Drive Towards Food Security
At the core of the rural transformation drive is the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, which has revolutionised smallholder farming through climate-smart agriculture.
More than three million farmers are supported with inputs, training, and extension services.
Over 11 million Pfumvudza plots have been established this season to combat drought and ensure national food security.
The programme has attracted continental attention and is now being replicated in several African countries.
In 2021, President Mnangagwa expanded Pfumvudza to include cotton production, accelerating rural industrialisation and strengthening the cotton value chain.
Building Rural Wealth
Cotton Scheme: Revived cotton production, feeding into ginneries and textile industries.
Rural Poultry Scheme: Transforming backyard poultry into commercial enterprises, benefiting three million households.
Goat Pass-on Scheme: Targeting 35 000 villages, benefiting up to 1.8 million homesteads with improved breeding stock.
Fisheries and Livestock Protection
Community Fisheries Scheme: Fish farming in 1 200 dams, with 50 000 fingerlings per dam by 2025.
Blitz Tick Grease Programme: Protecting livestock from tick-borne diseases, benefiting over one million households.
Water, Horticulture, and Village Industries
Borehole Drilling Scheme: Over 50 000 solar-powered boreholes drilled, enabling clean water and irrigation.
Rural Horticulture Scheme: Targeting three million households, with one borehole per village over five years.
Village Business Units (VBUs): By 2025, 35 000 VBUs and 9 600 school business units will anchor rural industrialisation.
Solar Scheme: Providing renewable energy for irrigation, cold storage, processing, and household electrification.
Impact
Dr Shadreck Makombe, President of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, applauded the initiatives:
“We appreciate the different schemes for positively transforming the rural population. To sustain the current growth trajectory, our markets must reform and attention must be paid to the primary producers.”
Mr Edward Dune, President of the Tobacco Farmers’ Union Trust, added:
“People living in rural areas are now better positioned as a result of these schemes. Their ability to access resources, cultivate their land more effectively, and benefit from better market opportunities has been transformative.”
A New Chapter
The Zimbabwe Rural Development 8.0 initiative marks a decisive shift by the Second Republic to place rural Zimbabwe at the centre of national development.
By prioritising agriculture, infrastructure, renewable energy, value addition, and industrialisation, the programme is laying the foundation for a resilient rural economy — one capable of driving Zimbabwe towards its 2030 upper middle-income goal.
As the schemes continue to expand, they hold the promise of transforming lives, empowering households, and building a prosperous, self-sustaining rural Zimbabwe.
