The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development has called on the private sector to lead Zimbabwe’s agricultural resilience strategy, warning that reactive crisis management is no longer viable in the face of recurring El Niño climate shocks.

Opening the National Agriculture Conference and Expo (NACE) 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri said previous dry spells have drained national coffers, citing a historical baseline to demonstrate the financial toll.

“We are meeting at this juncture when it’s all looking gloomy for the agricultural industry because of the El Niño that is coming. We know from 2020 that we have spent more than US$308 million responding to food issues as a result of these drought periods,” Prof Jiri warned.

He pointed out that the impending weather shock coincides with volatile global supply lines and erratic input markets, complicating national food security efforts.

“We have also seen an escalation of constraints owing to disturbances, these geopolitical disturbances, which have led to disruptions in supply lines. We are meeting at a time when we are seeing that fertiliser prices are very unstable and availability of fertiliser is also very questionable,” he said.

To address the drought concerns, he said the government’s response framework centres on six core priorities, namely an enhanced strategic grain reserve strategy, climate-smart production, an enhanced financial architecture, enhanced livestock mitigation strategies, enhanced grain imports, and enhanced coordination alongside early warning systems.

Prof Jiri said that while the state will facilitate policy frameworks, the private sector must drive capital deployment and operational execution across value chains.

“This is where this conference becomes extremely important. Our agriculture must be private sector-led, and the government facilitated,” Prof Jiri told delegates.

“The opportunities across the agricultural value chains from input supply to processing, logistics to finance, are immense. I call upon you to invest, innovate and partner with the government in building a resilient agricultural economy.”

The two-day conference includes the presentation of a State of the Agriculture Sector study conducted by Africa Economic Development Strategies, detailing bankable projects across priority value chains, investment pitches, and policy interventions.

Prof Jiri urged farmers to adopt adaptive techniques to preserve household food security over the next 12 months by embracing climate-smart agriculture, diversifying production, and keeping household grain reserves.

He added that development partners, researchers, and financial institutions must align their interventions with national targets under Vision 2030 to build a food-secure and prosperous economy.