By Chiedza Nyabadza
Senior Reporter
Government will pivot Zimbabwe’s agriculture from a production-focused sector to a commercially integrated Farm to Fork economy as it braces for a forecasted Godzilla El Niño that could trigger severe drought in the 2026/27 summer season, VP Chiwenga has announced.
Speaking at the 14th Annual National Agribusiness Conference in Harare today, Vice President Gen. (Rtd) Constantino Chiwenga said agricultural productivity must drive the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2 2026-2030) and the country’s push to attain upper-middle-income economy status.
The conference ran under the theme, “Agricultural Productivity as a Catalyst for Agribusiness Growth and Food Security.
VP Chiwenga said NDS2 places emphasis on food security, climate resilience, infrastructure, innovation and job creation, backed by the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2.
“We must move from a predominantly production-focused agricultural sector to a highly commercially integrated value chain with value addition across the entire agricultural economy,” he said.
Under the proposed Farm to Table policy, produce will be aggregated at farm level for local and export markets, with government prioritising value chain development and Agro-Industrial Parks to link producers, processors and investors.
The eight priority areas are expanding and rehabilitating irrigation infrastructure, affordable agricultural finance, farm mechanisation and modernisation, research, innovation and technology adoption, strengthened extension services, localised production, aggregation, value addition and beneficiation and efficient agricultural markets.
VP Chiwenga flagged climate change as the greatest threat to productivity, citing erratic rainfall, prolonged dry spells and rising temperatures.
“The 2026/27 summer season represents a critical stress test for Zimbabwe’s agricultural resilience, driven by converging threats such as current geopolitical tensions pushing up fuel and fertiliser prices, and a forecasted Super El Niño. Scientists have termed the expected phenomenon ‘Godzilla El Niño’ due to its severity,” he said.
“It is associated with heavy floods and cyclones in the western world and extreme dryness and heat in southern Africa,” Vice President Chiwenga said.
Anticipated impacts include disruptions to food and water supplies and the likelihood of severe drought.
In response, government will promote efficient water utilisation, rehabilitate boreholes, expand irrigation, and shift to drought-resilient crops such as sorghum, millet and sunflower.
Other measures include ensuring input affordability, accelerated climate-smart production, stronger early warning systems, and enhancing the Strategic Grain Reserve and livestock drought mitigation programmes.
“Farmers are to process at source and form farmer-owned cooperatives to own crop processing plants, in line with value addition and rural industrialisation policy,” he said.
“The contribution of women and youth in agriculture must not be diminished as the future of the sector depends on attracting a new generation of commercial and technology-driven farmers,” VP Chiwenga added.
The Vice President closed by reaffirming government’s commitment to creating an environment conducive to agricultural investment before officially opening the conference.
Meanwhile, Her Excellency Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, President of the Republic of Namibia, will be Guest of Honour and will officially open the 116th edition of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show on Friday, 28 August 2026.