The Future of Farming in Zimbabwe: Realising a resilient, inclusive and sustainable agricultural future

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Executive Summary

This report explores how Zimbabwe can build a more prosperous and food-secure future through effective and inclusive agricultural models. The ideas and concepts within are shaped by extensive travel within Zimbabwe, as well as across Brazil, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Kenya and Australia. By considering how the current state of agriculture in Zimbabwe has been shaped by the country’s history, as well as considering lessons, practices and innovations from around the world, the report identifies pathways that are both politically feasible and economically viable. The emphasis is on outlining how Zimbabwe can move from subsistence traps toward a modern, market-linked, and climate-resilient agricultural economy.

During the first half of the 20th century, the colonial state established a highly productive commercial agricultural sector within a relatively short period, marked by significant investment in infrastructure, research, and extension services. This system underpinned strong agricultural output and export performance and was accompanied by improvements in public health and education that serviced the broader population, including African communities. However, these achievements were founded on a range of colonial policies that systematically dispossessed African farmers and created a dual economy in which large, well-capitalised estates occupied the most fertile land while communal areas were overcrowded and under-resourced. This inequality became deeply entrenched and persisted after independence, as market-led land redistribution in the 1980s and 1990s achieved only limited redress. The Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) of the early 2000s dramatically accelerated the redistribution of agricultural land. While politically decisive and effective in redistributing land, it did so at the expense of agricultural productivity and led to the total economic collapse of the nation.

Since 2018, the state has re-oriented its agricultural policy away from redistribution alone and towards productivity, resilience, and investment. National programmes such as Pfumvudza, Command Agriculture, and the Presidential Input Scheme seek to stabilise food supply. Joint ventures have proliferated, with more than 2,700 approvals covering approximately 234,000 hectares, and irrigation expansion is a government priority. Agriculture continues to employ around two-thirds of the population, yet most smallholders remain locked into low-yield systems that are highly vulnerable to drought and poorly integrated into value chains.

Several constraints continue to undermine progress. Productivity in communal areas and smallholder plots is persistently low. Tenure remains insecure and non-bankable. Extension and research linkages are weak, leaving farmers without the agronomic and business support needed to raise yields. Policy inconsistency and execution failures further erode confidence.

Climate stress compounds these weaknesses: increasingly frequent droughts and erratic rainfall expose the fragility of rainfed systems and degraded lands. Finally, value chains remain fragmented, with limited aggregation, processing and logistics infrastructure.

Despite these challenges, important opportunities have emerged. Joint ventures and outgrower models have demonstrated that underutilised land can be recapitalised and linked back to markets. The horticulture sector is growing, earning over US$100 million annually.

Irrigation development, if managed through professional and sustainable frameworks, has the potential to decouple production from unreliable rainfall. In marginal farming areas, diversification through wildlife economies and carbon markets presents a valuable source of income.

Drawing on my Nuffield experiences and what I learned by engaging with over 100 farmers, agribusinesses, researchers and policymakers from around the world, I recommend seven strategic shifts that will build on progress to date, and further accelerate steps towards a prosperous agricultural future for the country:

• Principle 1: Promote and support established large-scale commercial producers.

• Principle 2: Reduce reliance on subsistence farming through targeted extension services.

• Principle 3: Capitalise on advancements through plant breeding and improved genetics.

• Principle 4. Ensure effective utilisation of strategic infrastructure such as irrigation schemes.

• Principle 5. Address land title and bankability of land.

• Principle 6. Strengthen market access and build a market-linked agricultural economy.

• Principle 7. Tailor land uses to the realities of climate change.

Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector stands at a pivotal juncture. The structural legacies of the FTLRP and the productivity collapse of the early 2000s cannot be ignored, but neither should they define the future. The way forward does not lie in identifying entirely new solutions, but in executing well-understood ones with urgency, credibility, and scale. Secure land rights, modern institutions, market-linked value chains, and climate-resilient practices are all within reach. With political commitment and genuine partnerships across scales, Zimbabwe can construct an agricultural architecture that is inclusive, competitive, and sustainable. The task now is to move decisively from rhetoric to delivery.