Online Reporter
Africa Moyo
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has lauded the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development for surpassing the target of growing the sector to a US$8,2 billion to a US$10,3 billion this year.
This is so despite the country experiencing its worst drought in over 40 years in the 2023/2024 season.
The President said this in the foreword of the ministry’s Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2, which runs from 2026 to 2030, along with the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).
Zimbabwe’s transformation from a low-income to a prosperous upper middle-income economy by 2030, is underpinned by agriculture, as the economy is agro-based, said President Mnangagwa.
In August 2020, he launched the ambitious “Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy”, later named the “Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy”, to provide the sector’s roadmap under NDS1 for the sustainable, inclusive and climate-smart transformation of the sector from a US$5,2 billion industry to a US$8,2 billion industry by this year.
However, after several game-changing interventions including the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, widening of the irrigation initiative and mechanising the sector, production substantially grew resulting in the sector surpassing the target.
“I commend the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development for the accelerated implementation of this Strategy, which has seen the sector grow to a US$10,3 billion industry by 2025, despite the negative impact of the worst drought in over forty years in the 2023/2024 season.”
He added that it has become necessary to craft the “Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2” (AFSRTS 2: 2026-2030), under NDS 2, on the country’s transformative journey towards Vision 2030.
The AFSRTS2 emphasises the resilience of the agricultural sector, based on the principles of climate-proofed agriculture, to ensure perennial food security, away from the episodic and weather-determined food security escapades of the past, said President Mnangagwa.
“This will assure the nation of food sovereignty. Concurrent with this effort, there will be improved nutrition for communities through a food systems approach to agricultural production.
“Resultantly, there will be better livelihoods for communities, and increased contribution of agriculture to economic development.
“These developments will be buttressed by a robust and secure land tenure and administration system,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said the historic Land Reform Programme is irreversible and is being entrenched to increase production and productivity through the issuance of bankable and transferable title deeds.
The AFSRTS has domesticated various regional and continental agricultural commitments, in particular, the Kampala Declaration’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme and its 10-year Strategy and Action Plan adopted in January this year by the African Council of Ministers, which is the successor to the Malabo Declaration of 2014.
