https://www.herald.co.zw/zim-challenged-to-be-innovative-foster-productivity-in-agric/

President Mnangagwa, who is on his annual leave, checks his cattle at his Precabe Farm in Kwekwe recently

Blessings Chidakwa Herald Reporter

Agriculture remains a key pillar for the country’s economic growth, while the nation continues to foster a culture of innovation, productivity and prosperity, President Mnangagwa has said. Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector has been blooming over the last few years with the Second Republic transforming it from a US$2 billion industry to over US$8 billion in less than five years. The country is now targeting a US$13,75 billion agriculture sector economy by 2025 after it surpassed the initial US$8,2 billion target as food security remains the foundation for sustainable economic growth with rising exports now moving into the centre of the growing farming boom. Under the Second Republic last year, the country produced its largest ever tobacco crop, with 85 percent of it coming from smallholder farmers of whom 60 percent are beneficiaries of the highly viable land reform. These farmers are now producing more tobacco than the land they farm used to produce before redistribution. Zimbabwe’s record wheat haul now stands at a staggering 465 000 tonnes, ensuring for the first time that all flour and bread uses local grain and thus has an assured supply. The harvest from the past winter wheat crop is 100 000 tonnes more than national demand, which presently stands at 360 000 tonnes. ReadMore