Prosper Bvunzawabaya, a graduate in finance has planted 300 mango trees that belong to a species called “Tommy Atkins”, which he hopes to be able to export after discovering its market potential overseas. Milton Zhakata is resorting to innovation by mixing Boer goats, originally from neighboring South Africa, with native goats. Boer goats’ meat is a money-printing machine. The goats are prolific breeders. These are just a few examples of the progress of young farmers in Zimbabwe.

Overall, youth contributes to 62% of the country’s population today and young farmers in Zimbabwe are increasingly engaged in contributing to the economy in recent years. More than 55% of women are between the ages 20 and 31 and >45% of men in the same age bracket grow fruits and rear livestock in the country.

Agricultural productivity has received recognition as one of the key factors that can help reduce poverty in Zimbabwe, especially in the post-COVID era.

The country has 10.2 million acres of arable land, although it lacks modern equipment and sustainable irrigation practices in several regions. Partnership with U.S. companies (e.g. John Deere) has steered the country in a positive direction towards adopting sustainable farming practices in these areas.

How Government Support and Innovations Help Young Farmers in Zimbabwe

President Emerson Mnangagwa, gaining office in 2017, was quick to adopt policies that would attract the youth to embrace agricultural best practices.

1. The government’s pro-farming mindset revels in the program called “Pfumvudza” (meaning “Master Farmers’ Revolution”), which weathers all climatic conditions and involves tillage reduction, organic mulch-based soli cover and crop rotations. Pfumvudza provides financing subsidies to young farmers and is backed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
2. The president has launched Provincial Integrated Youths Skills Development Centres (PIYSDC) for the country’s 10 provinces where youths are recruited at each center annually. The government provides training and support to youths to boost productivity. As of September 2022, 3,000 youths underwent training based at PIYSDC, which involved government allocation of 1,235 acres of land to institute these training centers, and distributing 700 heifers (female cows) to the rural district youths towards promoting interests in practicing agriculture.
3. New land policies and government efforts empower more youths. In May 2023, 21 out of 74 (qualified) youths got farms in the province of Mashonaland through the presidential 10ha scheme. This is part of land allocation efforts that the government has undertaken to integrate youth into mainstream agricultural practices.
4. Agritech private businesses promote better networking of farmers to help small-business owners in agriculture through their platforms. For example, Zimbabwe’s Econet Wireless communications group opened up its platform to recruit developers that bring innovations to agribusinesses.

Challenges in Agricultural Practices

Rural, agrarian parts of Zimbabwe are faced with specific challenges that cannot be undermined.

• Lack of Land Deeds: Title deeds play a critical role in getting the financial support farmers need to kickstart their projects, and banks may be willing to support (albeit rarely) for very high interest rates, which are normally not affordable for rural youths. A Tobacco Control research study found in 2020 that more than 50% of Zimbabwean tobacco farmers were in debt. The government is in discussions with local financial institutions to accept the 99-year leases as collateral security.
• Droughts: Most drought-prone regions of the country experience severe drought once every two years on average. With hardly 1% of the land accessible for irrigation, access to cultivable land is at a premium, even in rainfed areas.
• Market Preferences: Local supermarkets prefer imported foods sometimes and this exacerbates the trust and livelihood of local farmers.
• Storage: Lack of proper storage of surplus foods results in wastage and loss of income to these local farmers.
• Other Risks: Smallholder farmers also face other risks such as flooding, pests and diseases. The lack of well-developed financial markets results in losses without insurance for the localities.

The Path Forward 

The World Bank assessment in October 2022 affirms several opportunities to promote Zimbabwe’s agricultural productivity. Access to irrigation methods, climate-smart farming, diversification of high-value crops and sustained partnerships for reliable machinery are some of the critical factors that are expected to propel both the government and the private sectors forward.

Given the challenges faced, innovations and market orientation of small-scale farming carry a promising future for young farmers in Zimbabwe to invest in this sector for economic growth, both at the personal as well as the national level.

– Sudha Krishnaswami
Photo: Flickr