Zimbabwe has faced several economic issues during the past two decades. The country’s economy has gone through a series of reforms and crises. All this has had a major impact on the poverty situation in the country. Between 2019 and 2020, Zimbabwe’s macroeconomic challenges, a record drought, cyclone Idai and the COVID-19 pandemic affected the country. Today, the economic regressions that the country has faced are having negative impacts on the daily lives of Zimbabwean farmers.

Agricultural Zimbabwe

Agriculture is the pillar of Zimbabwean society. It provides income for around 70% of the population, supplies almost 60% of the raw materials that the industrial sector necessary and contributes 40% of total export earnings. While the agricultural sector of Zimbabwe remains the largest employer of labor in the country, the official wage of farm laborers is around 78,000 Zimbabwean dollars. With the inflation rate at around 180%, many farmers are struggling to stay afloat financially and have resorted to working at multiple jobs simultaneously. Other challenges that farm laborers and smallholder farmers faced are droughts, poor soil fertility, low investment, shortages of farm power, poor physical and institutional infrastructure and recurring food insecurity.

Struggles of Farmers

In addition to the financial crisis, farmers in Zimbabwe also suffer from bad treatment in their workplaces. Many farmers and farm laborers have to live in colonial-era shacks known as “makomboni.” According to Al-Jazeera, many have to contend with living in “renovated pigsties, tobacco barns, and horse stables on farms where they work.” Laborers are often unable to provide basic means for their families and get into debt with money lenders and their employers. The issues that the farmers of Zimbabwe faced are a testament to the economic predicament that the country is facing today.

Loss Of Profit

For cash crops such as cotton, which usually brings much financial success to farmers, rising inflation rates and poor currency means that they no longer get the desired profits of cotton farming. Besides inflation, two of the biggest issues that cotton farmers face are corruption and falling prices. Back in 2017, the price of a single kilogram of cotton was around $1.51. As cotton now is sold solely in Zimbabwean dollars, farmers gain little to no profit for their arduous labor. Nowadays the price of a single kilogram of cotton hovers between $0.53 and $0.68, almost a 66% decrease in less than six years. Corruption is also a huge issue. In 2022, the chair of the Zimbabwe parliament’s portfolio committee on land and agriculture was arrested for a case relating to the stockpiling of cotton farming inputs.

Another crop that is faltering is maize. As a result of changing weather patterns, droughts are becoming more frequent and harsher in Zimbabwe. Thereby, threatening the production of the maize crop which is a staple in the country. A government assessment estimated that Zimbabwe’s maize production fell by almost 43% in the 2021-2022 season due to the lack of rainfall. Many farmers have received orders to sell their stocks to the state in order to replenish low stocks. However, many are holding onto their stocks because the prices on offer are so miserly.

Hope For the Industry

Zimbabwean farmers are struggling to make ends meet. The economic crisis that the state faced is severely affecting the livelihood of farmers and farm laborers. Changing weather patterns are also having a severe impact on the production of import crops such as maize and cotton. However, hope still exists for the industry. Young farmers in Zimbabwe are leading the drive for the new generation. They are diversifying by growing fruits such as mangoes, rearing livestock such as Boer goats and cultivating tobacco. They are practicing sustainable methods that provide hope for farmers in Zimbabwe.

– Saad Haque
Photo: Flickr