Harare, Zimbabwe – The government has set an ambitious target of building a US$2 billion horticulture industry by 2030 of efforts to transform rural livelihoods, boost exports, and strengthen food security, a senior official has said.
Speaking at the Annual Agribusiness Conference held on the sidelines of the 13th Zimbabwe Agricultural Show (ZAS), Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Professor Obert Jiri, said horticulture was a lifeline for rural communities and a key driver of the country’s economic growth.
“With 62 percent of Zimbabweans living in rural areas and relying largely on subsistence farming, horticulture has the potential to lift millions out of poverty,” Jiri said. “Our vision is to increase irrigated land for horticulture from the current 10,000–15,000 hectares to 35,000 hectares under the Vision 2030 Accelerator Model’s Village Business Units.”
He said rain-fed farming could no longer sustain the demands of a modern horticultural industry, stressing the need for irrigation-driven agriculture to reduce reliance on erratic rainfall.
The government is banking on policy reforms and investment in high-value crops such as blueberries, avocados, citrus, and potatoes. Blueberry exports, for example, surged from US$1 million in 2018 to US$50 million in 2024, while potato production is expected to reach 243,000 metric tonnes by October this year.
Other crops earmarked for growth include sweet potatoes, with the government distributing virus-free vines to boost yields, and pineapples, whose output rose from 4,016 metric tonnes in 2017/18 to 12,272 metric tonnes in the 2024/25 season.
Jiri highlighted that land tenure reforms announced in December 2024, which made land bankable and transferable, would improve farmers’ access to finance and productivity. He also pointed to the creation of the Horticulture Recovery and Growth Plan, designed to involve 1.8 million rural households through the Presidential Horticulture Scheme.
To support exports, Zimbabwe is strengthening phytosanitary controls, developing an online one-stop permit system, and expanding market access through trade agreements such as the citrus export protocol with China.
“The growth of Zimbabwe’s horticulture industry is a collective responsibility,” Jiri said. “It requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, working with the private sector and development partners to uplift livelihoods and achieve Vision 2030.”
