HARARE, Zimbabwe — More than 188,000 farming households have strengthened food production and resilience through a four-year agricultural programme that expanded climate-smart farming, improved access to inputs and financing, and supported Zimbabwe’s wheat production.
The $25 million Zimbabwe Emergency Food Production Project, financed by the African Development Bank through its Transitional Support Facility, concluded on 30 June 2026. The Government of Zimbabwe implemented the initiative with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Launched in 2022, the project was initially designed as an emergency response to the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and disruptions to global agricultural supply chains. Its final results show that the intervention developed into a broader programme supporting long-term food security and agricultural resilience.
Production and climate resilience
The programme promoted climate-smart agriculture across 153,000 hectares and expanded the production of drought-tolerant maize and sunflower seed. It also contributed to average wheat yields of five tonnes per hectare.
Women represented 60 percent of the farmers reached, exceeding the programme’s original target of 40 percent. African Development Bank Country Manager for Zimbabwe Eyerusalem Fasika said the figures represented families that had adopted new production practices, gained access to finance and improved their harvests.
Smallholder credit and input financing
A Seed Revolving Fund implemented through AFC Land and Development Bank supported 90,957 farmers, including approximately 33,108 women, in irrigation schemes. The fund recorded a loan repayment rate above 90 percent.
The repayment performance is significant because it provides evidence that smallholder farmers can be viable agricultural borrowers when credit is supported by suitable production systems and market arrangements.
A separate partial credit guarantee scheme, administered by the Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism in partnership with Fertiliser and Seeds Group, recorded more than $44 million in fertiliser sales against an original target of $15 million. More than 80,000 tonnes of fertiliser moved through 23 private-sector agents and AFC.
Digital services and post-harvest support
The project modernised agricultural service delivery through the IDEA farmer registry platform, creating a digital foundation for extension services and agricultural data management.
It also supplied metal grain silos, threshers, moisture meters and oil-processing equipment to reduce post-harvest losses. Support for the Seed Services Institute and Crop Breeding Institute was intended to strengthen domestic seed production and reduce dependence on imported seed.
From emergency response to agricultural strategy
Lessons and financing models developed through the programme are now informing Zimbabwe’s Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 for 2026 to 2030. The strategy targets a $15.8 billion agricultural sector by 2030 and seeks to raise agriculture’s contribution to gross domestic product to between 12 and 15 percent.
The project’s wider significance lies in how an emergency intervention was used to build systems that can continue beyond the distribution of inputs. Its combination of farmer finance, digital registration, climate-smart practices, seed development and private-sector distribution offers a model that other African agricultural programmes may examine when designing responses to food and climate shocks.
Sources and References
- African Development Bank: Zimbabwe Emergency Food Production Project delivers transformative results
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