TOBACCO and wheat have anchored agricultural growth over the last two years, as the industry continues to provide stimulus for the transition from a lower to an empowered upper-middle-income society by 2030.
The sector expanded by 24 percent last year, following a 4 percent growth the prior year.
The sector continues to employ between 60 and 70 percent of the populace.
This is contained in the country’s new agriculture roadmap, the Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2: 2026-30 (AFSRTS 2).
Riding on the pedal set under AFSRTS 1, wherein the agriculture sector grew from US$5,2 billion in 2019 to US$10,3 billion in 2024, the industry’s focus is now on reaching US$15,8 billion by 2030.
“The agricultural sector grew by 4,1 percent in 2020, 17,5 percent in 2021, 6,2 percent in 2022 and 6,3 percent in 2023.
“Despite this growth, in 2024 the sector experienced negative growth of 18 percent, attributed to the El Niño-induced drought,” read AFSRTS 2.
Leading in the pack of growth is wheat, which rose 540 percent from 100 044 tonnes in 2019 to 640 195 last year.
The country requires 360 000 tonnes of wheat per annum and has been self-sufficient from local production since 2022, when 375 000 tonnes were harvested.
The current push of the Second Republic now is to substitute imports with locally produced wheat products and explore exports to generate foreign currency.
Not to be outdone is the tobacco subsector, which rose 37 percent from 259 million kg in 2019 to 355 million kg last year.
Growers’ earnings rose 124 percent from US$ 527 million in 2019 to US$1, 2 billion in 2025.
Recovering from the El Niño-induced drought of 2024, flue-cured tobacco production surged 53 percent to 355 million in 2025 from 232 million kg in 2024.
The country also recorded growth in cereal production over the years, achieving a high of 2,9 million tonnes in the 2024/25 season, with maize garnering 2 293 556 tonnes and traditional grains on 634 650 tonnes.
Zimbabwe seeks to be a food, feed, bio-oils and bio-fuels by 2030 and move away from the food basket status of the past.
Sesamum production rose with its export rising 152 percent to US$3,8 million last year from US$1,5 million in 2024.
In volume terms, it rose 188 percent to 3,8 million kg from 1,3 million kg.
The cotton sector also contributed to agricultural growth when production doubled from 13,5 million kg to over 28 million kg.
Within the horticulture sector, blueberries are the fastest-growing export crop since 2018 and are well-known for precision farming in frost-free zones.
From experimental plantings of blueberries in 2008 and the first commercial exports in 2017, production skyrocketed from US$1 million in 2018 to US$50 million by 2024, with volumes surging by 351 percent since 2020.
Zimbabwe is moving towards the 2030 goal of 30 000 tonnes with an anticipated 50 percent growth from 8 000 tonnes in 2024 to 12 000 last year.
Statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) show that the country’s export volume of berries rose by a whopping 1 609 percent from about half a million kg in 2018 to nine million kg in 2025.
In the livestock sector, milk production increased 85 percent to 122 million litres last year from 66 million in 2017.
The country requires 131 million litres of milk annually for self-sufficiency.
The AFSRTS 2 also disclosed that beef production rose 94 percent from 49 000 tonnes in 2021 to 95 000 tonnes in 2024.
