Zimbabwe’s US$15.8bn Circular Food Systems Vision Takes Shape
Under the high Bulawayo sun, delegates from across Eastern and Southern Africa filed into a conference room this week to talk about the future of food. On the screen behind the podium, one number dominated: US$15.8 billion – the agricultural economy Zimbabwe wants to build by 2030.
The route to that number, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Davis Marapira told the 2026 Regional Circular Food Systems Policy Dialogue, runs through a new kind of agriculture – one where waste is a resource, water is recycled, and villages become self-contained hubs of energy, food, and income.
Zimbabwe, he argued, is not just catching up. It is “actively pioneering climate-resilient circular food systems” and offering a blueprint for its neighbours.
From US$10.3bn To US$15.8bn: The New Farm Economy
Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector is currently valued at around US$10.3 billion. Under the country’s new Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS 2), 2026–2030, Government wants to push that figure to US$15.8 billion by the end of the decade.
AFSRTS 2 builds on the first strategy (2020–2025) but shifts the emphasis from boosting production alone to reshaping how food systems function, in line with NDS1, AU Agenda 2063, and the UN SDGs.
The strategy is anchored on five impact areas:
- Food security and sovereignty,
- Nutrition security,
- Improved livelihoods,
- Agriculture-led economic growth, and
- Land tenure security.
Marapira told delegates that circular food systems – where outputs from one activity feed into another – are central to hitting those targets and cushioning rural communities from climate and economic shocks.
Can Circular Food Systems Fix Malnutrition?
One of the starkest scorecards AFSRTS 2 is trying to improve is child nutrition. Zimbabwe has set specific targets for 2030:
- Reduce stunting from 24% to 20%,
- Cut wasting from 4% to 3%, and
- Boost the share of children receiving a minimum acceptable diet from 12% to 25%.
“Circular food systems with diverse crops and integrated livestock are essential to achieving these goals,” Marapira said.
Instead of mono-cropped maize fields, the circular vision is of:
- Mixed cropping – maize, small grains, legumes, and horticulture grown together, recycling nutrients through the soil,
- Integrated livestock – cattle, goats, poultry, and fish supplying manure, protein, and income, and
- Local processing – community mills and agro-processing hubs turning produce into affordable, nutrient-dense foods.
For neighbours at the Bulawayo dialogue, Marapira suggested that similar nutrition-linked targets could be woven into their own circular food system strategies, turning abstract concepts into measurable commitments.
FFA Explainer:
Circular food systems aim to keep resources like water, nutrients, and energy in use for as long as possible. Crop residues feed livestock, manure fertilises fields, biogas powers irrigation pumps, and food waste becomes compost – reducing inputs, cutting losses, and lowering emissions.
Climate Resilience: 496,000ha Of Irrigation And Conservation Farming
On climate resilience, Zimbabwe is betting big on irrigation and regenerative practices.
By 2030, the country plans to develop 496,000 hectares of irrigation, a critical buffer as El Niño-induced dry spells become more frequent.
The Deputy Minister also flagged a national goal of achieving 100% adoption of the sustainable intensive conservation agriculture model by 2028. This builds on the Pfumvudza/Intwasa approach, now framed more explicitly within a circular logic – retaining crop residues, minimising soil disturbance, diversifying rotations, and integrating livestock where possible.
Alongside this, Zimbabwe is:
- Completing nine major dams under the infrastructure 6.0 model,
- Strengthening early warning systems to give farmers time to act before hazards hit, and
- Exploring carbon credits and climate risk insurance as additional financial buffers.
“These are not just Zimbabwean targets, but they are potential blueprints for regional action,” Marapira said.
Slashing Food Losses: From 16.5% To 6%
Another pillar of Zimbabwe’s circular push is cutting food loss and waste – a silent drain on farm incomes and national food security.
The target is to reduce pre- and post-harvest losses from 16.5% to 6% by 2030.
To get there, Government plans to expand:
- Cold chains for perishable produce,
- Agro-processing hubs that add value and extend shelf life, and
- Improved storage – from hermetic bags for grains to upgraded rural depots.
“This is a core circular economy priority that all our countries share,” Marapira told the regional audience, pointing to similar losses reported across SADC for grains, fruit, and vegetables.
Rural Development 8.0: Circularity On The Ground
If AFSRTS 2 sketches the big picture, Rural Development 8.0 shows what circular food systems look like in a village.
Marapira described how the programme already embeds circular principles through:
- Village Business Units (VBUs) equipped with solar-powered drip irrigation and fish ponds, where water recirculates between crops and aquaculture.
- Presidential poultry and goat schemes, which turn crop by-products and kitchen waste into eggs, meat, and manure.
- The Presidential Climate-Proofed Input Scheme, which ties free inputs for climate-smart crops to conservation farming practices.
“These models can be adapted across the region,” he said, inviting delegates to visit sites where VBUs are already operating as living examples of the water–energy–food nexus in action.
Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots, VBUs and Presidential livestock schemes are increasingly being framed less as isolated programmes and more as interlocking pieces of a circular system that aims to keep value circulating within rural wards.
Water, Sanitation And The Nexus Approach
Food systems are only as healthy as the water and sanitation systems surrounding them. Here, too, Zimbabwe has set ambitious 2030 targets:
- Increase rural water access from 88% to 100%, and
- Raise rural sanitation coverage to 100%.
Marapira linked these goals directly to the water–energy–food–health nexus at the heart of circular thinking. Safe water and sanitation reduce disease burdens, free up time (especially for women and girls), and improve the impact of nutrition interventions.
As more boreholes and piped schemes are solarised, they also become part of a cleaner rural energy mix that can support irrigation and small-scale processing.
Women, Youth And The Capital Call
Across every pillar, the Deputy Minister stressed that women and young people are being “mainstreamed” – not just as beneficiaries, but as drivers of circular enterprises.
From managing VBUs and fisheries to leading agro-processing cooperatives and climate-smart input dealerships, women and youth are expected to play front-line roles if the US$15.8 billion vision is to become reality.
Marapira had a direct message for the financiers, development partners, and private investors in the room.
“I therefore say directly to every investor, development partner and financier in this room, align your capital and expertise with these priority areas,” he said.
“That is where you will have the greatest impact, generating both sustainable returns and lasting developmental outcomes for the people of Eastern and Southern Africa.”
He challenged delegates to move beyond communiqués and co-develop an actionable policy and investment roadmap that:
- Identifies priority actions,
- Names responsible actors, and
- Pinpoints near-term opportunities for financing and implementation.
That roadmap, he suggested, should knit together national ministries, regional policy bodies, research institutions, banks, and private firms.
Regional Lessons From Zimbabwe’s Circular Turn
For visiting officials from Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and beyond, Zimbabwe’s presentation offered both a progress report and an invitation.
On one hand, the country’s experience with conservation agriculture scale-up, Rural Development 8.0, and dam construction under the infrastructure 6.0 model provides case studies other states can draw on.
On the other, challenges remain – from financing maintenance of new infrastructure to ensuring that circular practices reach the most remote wards, not just model sites near main roads.
Still, the direction of travel is clear: an agricultural sector that grows not just by expanding hectares, but by tightening loops between crops, livestock, water, and energy; cutting losses; and translating that efficiency into better diets and incomes.
For a region facing recurrent droughts, high input costs, and volatile markets, Zimbabwe’s circular food systems vision is both a survival strategy and a growth plan. Whether it can lift the farm economy to US$15.8 billion by 2030 will depend on what happens after the speeches in Bulawayo – in the fields of Binga, the VBUs of Gokwe, and the irrigation schemes along the new dams where policy promises meet farmer practice.
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