Zimbabwe's government has set a US$15.8 billion target for its agricultural sector by 2030, nearly doubling the industry's current gross value under a new five-year national strategy unveiled this month.
Agriculture accounted for an estimated 12–15% of Zimbabwe's gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years, but the sector's potential has long been constrained by limited access to inputs, financing, and reliable markets — legacies of the land reform programme that ran from 2000 to 2008. The Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS2: 2026–2030) is the government's most structured effort yet to move farming from subsistence toward commercially-driven, export-oriented production.
New Strategy Targets Three Million Tonnes of Maize and a 70% Horticulture Surge
AFSRTS2 sets specific production benchmarks: three million tonnes of maize annually, 1.38 million tonnes of wheat, and a 70% increase in horticultural output. The strategy is structured around ten pillars, with an emphasis on seed quality, data-driven agronomy, and market alignment.
Vangelis Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, announced the strategy's targets at the Charter Seed Field Day held at the Agricultural Research Trust (ART) Farm in Harare on 14 March 2026.
"This is our roadmap, our compass — building on the phenomenal success of the first strategy, which grew the sector's gross value to over US$10 billion." Vangelis Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development
From Food Security to Food Sovereignty: A Shift in Mindset
The deputy minister said the new strategy pushes beyond food security — ensuring people have enough to eat — toward food sovereignty, meaning Zimbabwe controls its own food systems from seed selection through to final sale.
"It is not just about having enough food, but about controlling the entire food system, from the seed we plant to the market we sell to."
Vangelis Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, as quoted by NewsDay Zimbabwe
Haritatos also called for a shift away from generalised farming advice toward what he described as precise, data-driven decisions — an approach that mirrors the commercial agriculture models common in South Africa, Kenya, and Brazil, where input use is calibrated by soil testing and satellite mapping. [INTERNAL LINK: Zimbabwe's first agriculture strategy results 2021–2025]
Jobs, Foreign Currency, and a Commercial Imperative
The strategy explicitly ties agricultural growth to youth employment and foreign currency generation — two of Zimbabwe's most persistent economic pressure points. [INTERNAL LINK: Zimbabwe unemployment and youth economy]
Zimbabwe's diaspora, estimated at three to four million people, currently sends remittances that outpace many export categories. AFSRTS2 seeks to create domestic economic alternatives that reduce dependence on those outflows. Agriculture, alongside gold mining, remains one of the few sectors where Zimbabwe holds genuine comparative advantage.
What to Watch Next
AFSRTS2 runs through 2030. The Ministry has not yet published a detailed implementation schedule, but Haritatos indicated that seed quality and input supply chains are the immediate priorities — reflected in the choice of a seed company field day as the platform for the launch.
Whether the strategy's commercial ambitions translate to smallholder farmers — who make up the majority of Zimbabwe's agricultural workforce — will depend heavily on rural infrastructure, credit access, and extension services, none of which have received significant investment since the early 2000s.
Additional reporting sourced from NewsDay Zimbabwe. The Granite Post has independently verified key details.