DRC Delegation Hails Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Transformation
A line of steel silos rose above the dry season haze in Macheke as Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) minister Jean-Pierre Kalenga Mupatale stepped down from his vehicle, notebook in hand. By the time his delegation left Zimbabwe, the verdict was clear: this was a neighbour whose agricultural transformation offered lessons worth taking home.
The high-level team from the DRC, led by the Minister of Land Affairs, Agriculture, Fisheries, Breeding and Rural Development, concluded a benchmarking mission in Zimbabwe after a packed programme that showcased grain storage, export-oriented farming, and major water infrastructure projects.
Hosted by Zimbabwe’s agricultural authorities, the delegation visited Grain Marketing Board (GMB) storage facilities in Macheke, Zambezi Fresh Farm in Marondera, and Kunzvi Dam in Murehwa. The tour was designed to show how a mix of public investment, commercial initiative, and farmer mobilisation can lift a country from food deficit to surplus and build resilience against climate shocks.
DRC Looks South For A Working Food Security Model
Kalenga, who oversees land affairs, agriculture, fisheries, breeding, and rural development in the DRC, said Zimbabwe’s approach to food security and agricultural growth offered practical ideas for his own country’s reform efforts.
“The tour gave us valuable lessons on strategic grain reserve management, modern storage systems, farmer mobilisation, and commercial agriculture,” said Hon. Jean-Pierre Kalenga Mupatale. “We will use these experiences to inform our agricultural development agenda in the DRC.”
The DRC faces vast opportunities and equally large challenges. It has some of Africa’s richest water resources and extensive arable land, yet many rural communities still depend on food imports and are vulnerable to climate variability and conflict-related disruptions. Officials in Kinshasa have been under growing pressure to raise domestic production, stabilise food supplies, and reduce reliance on imported staples.
Against that backdrop, Zimbabwe’s recent strides towards national self-sufficiency have attracted attention in the region. The country has anchored much of its agricultural policy on three pillars: food security, value-added export agriculture, and water security. These priorities align with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 on zero hunger, while dovetailing with Zimbabwe’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
What Strategic Grain Reserves Look Like On The Ground
The first stop in Macheke took the delegation into the heart of Zimbabwe’s grain security architecture: GMB’s storage and handling facilities. Long concrete driveways, weighbridges, driers, and towering silos told a story that statistics alone never quite capture – how a country physically holds on to food when harvests are good so families have something to eat when rains fail.
FFA Explainer:
Strategic grain reserves are stocks of staple grains such as maize or wheat that a government or national agency keeps in storage for emergencies. They help stabilise prices, cushion against droughts or floods, and ensure food is available when local production drops. Managing them well requires sound storage, clear rules on buying and selling, and reliable funding.
At Macheke, the DRC delegation observed modernised storage systems and handling protocols aimed at reducing post-harvest losses. From intake grading to aeration and fumigation regimes, the visit underscored how technology and discipline protect each tonne of grain.
Officials explained how Zimbabwe uses these reserves to smooth supply, especially during drought seasons. GMB’s role in buying grain from communal and smallholder farmers is central to this system, giving growers a guaranteed market and the state a buffer stock.
For many African countries, including the DRC, such systems are still being built or reformed. Observers in the delegation pointed to weak rural road networks, inadequate storage, and fragmented markets back home as key obstacles. Watching loaded trucks queue at Macheke, then seeing how grain moves into long-term storage, gave the visitors a concrete picture of what a functioning strategic reserve can look like.
Blueberries In Marondera: Export Agriculture In Action
From grain security, the tour shifted to high-value horticulture. In Marondera, the delegation walked between neat rows of blueberry bushes under irrigation at Zambezi Fresh Farm, a commercial operation with 110 hectares under blueberries for export.
The numbers matter. One hundred and ten hectares of a single high-value crop, managed to strict quality standards, linked directly to foreign markets. For a country, that translates into foreign currency earnings, rural jobs, and technology transfer. For the DRC delegation, it was a working case study in export agriculture.
FFA Explainer:
Export agriculture refers to crops or livestock products grown primarily for sale abroad rather than for local consumption. These ventures often require irrigation, cold chains, certification standards, and strong relationships with international buyers. When done well, they can create jobs and foreign exchange, but they also need careful planning so food crops for local communities are not neglected.
At Zambezi Fresh, farm managers outlined how they connect to overseas buyers, manage cold storage, and maintain quality from field to packhouse. The DRC delegation heard how export horticulture can coexist with food crops, especially when surrounding communities supply labour and benefit from outgrower or support schemes.
For Congolese officials, the lesson was not simply to plant blueberries. It was to understand the building blocks: water, energy, cold chain infrastructure, agronomy skills, and access to markets. Those ingredients can support many different crops, from avocados to French beans, depending on local conditions.
Kunzvi Dam Shows Why Water Infrastructure Matters
The last leg of the tour took the visitors to Kunzvi Dam in Murehwa. Still under development, Kunzvi is designed as a cornerstone water project, expected to support urban supply and unlock new agricultural potential in its catchment area.
The site visit gave the DRC team a sense of the scale involved in modern water infrastructure – earthworks, pipelines, and ancillary installations that, once completed, will change how communities farm around Murehwa and beyond.
The message was simple but powerful: no water, no agriculture. With climate change driving more erratic rainfall patterns across Southern and Central Africa, dams, weirs, and irrigation systems are no longer luxuries. They are survival tools.
Zimbabwean officials shared how dam projects like Kunzvi link with irrigation development programmes and rural industrialisation. Once water is assured, farmers can shift from one rain-fed crop a year to multiple irrigated cycles, integrate livestock, and support agro-processing businesses.
For the DRC – with some of the continent’s biggest rivers but limited irrigation coverage in many rural districts – this linkage between large dams, smallholder schemes, and commercial users is of keen interest.
ARDA: A Transformation Model On Display
Speaking on the sidelines of the tour, Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) Director, Mr Washington Katiyo, framed the visit as a recognition of Zimbabwe’s evolving agricultural model.
“The visit highlighted Zimbabwe’s practical agricultural transformation model, anchored on infrastructure investment, food security, and sustainable rural development,” said Katiyo. “It strengthens regional cooperation and positions Zimbabwe as a leader in agricultural innovation and knowledge sharing.”
ARDA has been central to the country’s shift from a narrower focus on state farms to a broader rural development mandate. That includes joint ventures on irrigated estates, support for smallholder irrigation schemes, and partnerships that blend public infrastructure with private management skills.
The model rests on three visible elements that the DRC delegation saw up close:
- Infrastructure first: dams, canals, roads, and storage determine what farmers can realistically grow and sell.
- Food security as a foundation: stable supplies of staples like maize allow room for diversification into higher-value crops.
- Commercial discipline: contracts, pricing structures, and reliable buyers keep both small and large farmers engaged and investing.
Zimbabwean officials link this approach directly to NDS1 targets on food security, rural incomes, and export growth. For the DRC, whose own national plans seek to convert natural resource wealth into broad-based rural development, such examples carry weight.
Zimbabwe’s Own Farmers Watch – And Adapt
While the DRC delegation studied Zimbabwe, farmers here used the visit as a mirror. In Marondera district, communal farmer and youth group leader, 29-year-old Blessing Mupamhanga, said seeing foreign officials touring farms in his province was a reminder that local practice can inspire others.
“We sometimes think we are behind, but when neighbours come to learn from us, it shows we are doing something right,” said Mupamhanga, who grows maize and soya beans and hopes to move into horticulture. “The focus on irrigation and storage should also reach more small farmers like us, not just big projects.”
That tension – between flagship projects and everyday smallholders – is a live debate in Zimbabwe. Programmes to modernise grain storage and expand irrigation must reach the ward level if they are to change lives for women, youth, and children in rural areas.
Against that backdrop, regional benchmarking trips take on a second purpose. They remind policymakers that what is on show must keep expanding outwards. They also create diplomatic pressure to keep delivering on promises made in national blueprints and regional agreements.
For many Zimbabwean farmers, the hope is that interest from neighbours like the DRC leads to shared financing mechanisms, joint ventures, and bigger regional markets. That could mean new buyers for grain, more demand for livestock feeds, and cross-border value chains for horticulture.
Regional Cooperation: From Hashtags To Hard Work
The visit carried strong messages of unity, captured in hashtags like #FoodSecurityEverywhereEveryDay, #WaterForDevelopment, #AgricultureForGrowth, and #RegionalCooperation. Yet the substance lay in what was quietly exchanged on the ground: policy notes, technical presentations, and candid conversations about what has worked and what still fails.
Regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) encourage this kind of peer learning under agriculture and food security frameworks. Zimbabwe’s experience with targeted subsidies, contract farming, and irrigation rehabilitation offers real-world case studies for neighbours wrestling with similar issues.
For the DRC, collaboration with Zimbabwe can feed into broader programmes to open up its rural heartlands, where poor roads, limited extension services, and insecurity have long held back farming. Shared technical teams, training exchanges, and joint private investments are some of the options officials on both sides have quietly floated.
Such cooperation also resonates with Agenda 2063’s call for African countries to trade more with each other and share knowledge rather than importing every solution from outside the continent. When one African country learns from another’s successes – and mistakes – the gains tend to fit local realities better.
From Macheke To Kinshasa: What Happens Next?
When the DRC delegation left Kunzvi Dam and began the long journey home, they carried more than glossy briefing folders. They left with images of silos in Macheke that held back hunger in a dry year, blueberry rows in Marondera tied to markets thousands of kilometres away, and a half-built dam in Murehwa that symbolises water-secure futures for farming families.
For Zimbabwe, the visit was a moment of quiet validation – a sign that, despite ongoing challenges, its agricultural transformation is visible beyond its borders. For the DRC, it marked the start of a more informed push to adapt similar tools to its own vast and varied territory.
The real test will come in the seasons ahead. Will grain reserves in Kinshasa one day mirror the discipline seen at Macheke? Will new irrigated blocks in rural Congo echo the ambition of Kunzvi-linked schemes? And will youth in both countries, like Mupamhanga in Marondera, see tangible doors open into profitable, modern agriculture?
If the spirit of #RegionalCooperation on display during this visit is matched by hard work and resources on both sides, the answer may be found not in meeting rooms but in fields – from the highlands of Murehwa to the river valleys of the Congo.
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