Online Reporter
Michael Tome, [email protected]
ZIMBABWE should strengthen linkages between agriculture, finance, technology and markets to unlock greater value from the sector and translate production into sustainable economic gains, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) has said.
Addressing a ZNCC-organised breakfast meeting on the sidelines of the ongoing Zimbabwe Agricultural Show yesterday, ZNCC chief executive officer Mr Christopher Mugaga said Zimbabwe should address policy, logistics and market-access constraints holding back agricultural value chains.
Mr Mugaga said Zimbabwe had significant opportunities to expand agricultural exports, particularly into major markets such as China, but weaknesses across the value chain continue to hamper local products from fully exploiting those opportunities.
He cited China-Africa trade, noting that African exports to China were valued at about US$285 billion and questioned why Zimbabwean agricultural products remained largely absent from major retail outlets and international markets.
“The question is whether it is a policy issue, a quality issue, or a lack of information and knowledge,” Mr Mugaga said, calling for stronger collaboration among stakeholders to identify and address the bottlenecks.
He said the country needed to move beyond repeatedly highlighting challenges such as transport and logistics and instead develop practical solutions that can improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the local agriculture sector.
Mr Mugaga also called for scrutiny of competition within agricultural markets, including possible monopolistic and anti-competitive practices that could prevent farmers from accessing major retail and formal markets.
“If a farmer producing cannot reach the Food Lover’s Market, what could be triggering that challenge?” he asked, stressing the need to identify specific barriers preventing producers from accessing consumers.
In her remarks at the same meeting, ZNCC president Ms Josephine Takundwa called for stronger coordination across the agricultural value chain.
She said weak linkages among key stakeholders constrained Zimbabwe’s ability to produce, process and market agricultural products.
Mrs Takundwa noted Zimbabwe had most of the capabilities needed to build a competitive agriculture sector, but stakeholders were failing to translate these strengths into higher incomes and stronger economic value, citing lack of effective coordination among stakeholders as a major weakness.
“Our farmers know how to produce. Our financiers do finance. Our manufacturers do the process.
Our retailers do sell. Our exporters trade internationally. And our innovators are creating solutions every day.
“Yet too often, these capabilities operate alongside one another, rather than with one another,” Ms Takundwa said.
The disconnect was creating a paradox in which the country could have production without prosperity, demand without adequate supply, investment opportunities without investment and quality products that failed to reach markets where they could command more value.
Ms Takundwa said Zimbabwe’s agricultural transformation could no longer be measured solely by hectares under cultivation, tonnes produced or the number of farmers participating in the sector.
She argued that agricultural growth should increasingly be assessed by the income generated by producers, market access, value addition, investment and export performance.
“The more important question is, what happens after harvest? Because harvesting is not the finish line. It is the starting point of value creation.
“If production does not lead to income, something is broken. If markets exist but producers cannot access them, then we have a coordination failure,” she said.
Ms Takundwa called on the Government to create a predictable, responsive and investment-friendly policy environment to enhance agricultural production.
Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) president Mr Ngoni Kudenga said the country’s focus should shift from simply increasing production to building a competitive agricultural sector capable of
meeting market requirements and generating sustainable returns for producers.
He said improving competitiveness would require greater alignment across the agricultural value chain, with producers, processors, financiers, retailers and exporters working together to ensure that production is guided by market demand and supported by efficient systems.
“The central question is not merely how Zimbabwe can produce more. It is how we can produce competitively, respond to actual market demand, reduce avoidable losses, meet required standards and ensure that producers obtain sustainable commercial returns,” Mr Kudenga said.
Mr Kudenga’s remarks come as Zimbabwe seeks to strengthen agricultural value chains, increase value addition and expand exports while reducing post-harvest losses and improving returns to farmers.
Stronger integration across agricultural value chains would be critical to increasing local production, expanding exports, attracting investment and strengthening the contribution of agriculture to Zimbabwe’s broader industrialisation agenda.
