THE PROPOSAL

The Government of Zimbabwe has set developed an agriculture and food systems transformation agenda, with a 2030 deadline. The goal is to promote agriculture so that it contributes 18% of the GDP, triple agricultural trade, cut poverty by half, and build resilient and inclusive food systems.

Hand-in-Hand is supporting the Government on identifying investment opportunities related to smallholder irrigation systems, decentralized agro-processing centers, and smallholder aggregation to include smallholder producers in value chains.

COMMODITIES AND INTERVENTIONS

Scale Up Small-scale Irrigation Systems

Hand-in-Hand supports increasing irrigation capacity from 216,000 to 350,000 hectares. The plan is to develop communal irrigation schemes, and underground boreholes. Likewise, develop solar pumping and conveyancing equipment to smallholder farmers.

This initiative will be developed in seven micro-regions around the country, targeting 2.3 million families. The estimated investment required is US$743 million. The net present value is estimated to be US$112.5 million and the internal rate of return 12%.

Increase Availability of Tomato

Zimbabwe currently imports 1.2 million metric tons of tomato every year. The Government plans to establish decentralized micro-tomato processing plants to help meet domestic demand and cut food loss.

Twelve centers will be established in six micro-regions benefiting more than 160,000 farmers (about 13,000 farmers per plant). A total investment of US$10.2 million is being sought. The net present value is estimated to be US$7.1 million and the internal rate of return 20%.

Develop Decentralized Banana Packing Stations

The country produces 40,000 bananas annually, out of which a whopping 25% is lost. Zimbabwe is trying to tackle this food loss problem with the development of decentralized packing stations, which would have annual capacity of 2,500 metric tons, in banana-producing communities.

Five stations would be implemented in one micro-region, benefiting more than 30,000 farmers. The total investment required for this is US$ 550,000, with a net present value  of at least US$450,000 and an internal rate of return of 40%.

• See Zimbabwe's investment plan slide deck presentation.
  
  
• See Zimbabwe's investment brief on aggregation model.
  
  
• See Zimbabwe's investment brief on irrigation and smallholder solar-powered borehole programme.
  
  
• See Zimbabwe's investment brief on agricultural mechanization.
  
  
• See Zimbabwe's investment brief on tomato processing plants.
  
  
• See video on impact investment opportunities in Zimbabwe.