Online Reporter
Theseus Mauruki Shambare
Herald Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN smallholder farmers are positioning themselves to tap into a European market of over 500 million consumers under duty-free and quota-free trade arrangements.
But experts say success will depend on organisation, compliance and the ability to consistently meet export standards.
The opportunity comes as Zimbabwe strengthens efforts to integrate smallholder producers into formal export value chains through structured production systems and regional trade frameworks.
Speaking during the Support Towards the Operationalisation of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy Project (STOSAR II) High-Level Policy Dialogue on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) last week, the European union programme manager, Mr Martin Zhou, said Zimbabwe already enjoys preferential access to European markets under the Economic Partnership Agreement.
“The agreement offers quota-free, duty-free access to the EU markets, which means that partners from the region can access the 500 million consumers of Europe without any duties,” he said.
While the market access is in place, stakeholders say smallholder farmers remain largely unable to fully benefit due to fragmented production systems and weak compliance structures.
Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) chief executive officer Mrs Alice Mapfiza said disorganised production continues to lock out small-scale farmers from lucrative formal markets.
“For smallholder farmers, I think their biggest challenge is they operate as individuals,” she said.
“So, we need to find ways of making sure that they are not fragmented. We need to make sure that they are aggregated and clustered somehow, so that they have the advantage of numbers.”
She said clustering farmers into organised groups would help consolidate volumes, improve bargaining power and reduce transaction costs, while enabling them to meet strict buyer requirements.
However, she noted that organisation alone would not be enough without compliance with international standards.
“Another factor which is affecting our smallholder farmers is the issue of quality and standards compliance,” she said.
“I do not think we can talk about trade if we do not talk about compliance.”
Mrs Mapfiza said certification, grading and traceability systems were still widely viewed as costs rather than market enablers, despite their importance in accessing high-value export destinations.
“Our major challenge right now is we see compliance as a cost and not as an enabler,” she said.
“But for us to be able to access the markets that have been spoken about by the EU, we need to make sure that our farmers know the standards.
“If we do not know those standards, they become non-tariff barriers.”
Chief Director for Agriculture Education, Research, Innovation and Specialist Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, Dr Dumisani Kutywayo, said Zimbabwe must move beyond participation and begin competing in premium markets.
“The 2026 ZITF theme challenges us to look beyond our borders and beyond our traditional ways of working,” he said.
“It demands that we ask ourselves a difficult but essential question: Is Zimbabwean agriculture merely participating in regional trade, or is it truly competing?”
Dr Kutywayo said horticultural and high-value export crops such as avocados, citrus, blueberries and macadamia nuts present strong opportunities for smallholder inclusion if supported through certification systems and structured value chains.
“Zimbabwe cannot export what we cannot certify,” he said.
“When our plant health systems are robust, our export consignments are not rejected at borders. That is competitiveness.”
Livestock expert Dr Lawrence Dinginya said similar reforms were needed in the beef sector, where coordinated production systems and disease control remain essential for export revival.
“Healthy livestock systems are essential for competitive beef exports,” he said.
Analysts say that while Zimbabwe’s trade access to the European union is a significant opportunity, unlocking it for smallholder farmers will require deliberate investment in aggregation, standards compliance, traceability systems and coordinated value chains.
The push to strengthen farmer organisation is part of STOSAR II, an EU-funded initiative implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) aimed at improving agricultural information systems, food safety controls and trade readiness across the region.
Experts say if properly organised and supported, Zimbabwe’s smallholder farmers could evolve from fragmented producers into competitive exporters capable of supplying high-value international markets.
