A farm worker of Wanjin Agricultural Development Co. drives a Chinesemanufactured tractor on Hunyani Farm, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, on 11 November 2015

For the first time in 56 years, Zimbabwe was able to produce sufficient wheat for its population, and in the process, became the only African country to do so. 

According to the country’s Cluster Agricultural Development Services, Zimbabwe achieved a milestone in wheat production by harvesting 375,000 tonnes of the grain in 2022. 

Anxious Masuka, the country’s minister of lands, agriculture, water and rural resettlement, attributed the bumper harvest to the government’s initiative and public-private partnerships with Chinese companies. 

“The bumper harvest was born out of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s visionary leadership. Government provided inputs and technical support to farmers. The other thing is the support we received from experts from China. We also entered into public-private partnerships with Chinese companies,” he said.   

Chinese agricultural partners 

Several Chinese agriculture-related units are now working in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector. In 2021, China International Development Cooperation Agency brought in agricultural technical experts from China. Since then, the technical aid project of the senior agricultural expert group has contributed to many meaningful achievements. 

With the guidance of Chinese experts, Isaac Chirombo harvested 3.5 tonnes of corn within a two-year growth cycle, effectively solving his family’s food shortage problem. In addition, the income made with rabbits he raised helped him to renovate his house and put his two children back in school. 

“This past two years, my yields have improved thanks to the technical support I’ve been receiving from Chinese experts. I was introduced to rabbit farming and the results have been tremendous. My children dropped out of school because of a lack of school fees; but I am happy they are back to school now,” he said. 

In 2010, east China’s Anhui State Farms Group Co. Ltd. and Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Defence jointly set up the Zimbabwe-China Wanjin Agricultural Development Co. (Wanjin), aiming to help Zimbabwe to reclaim wasteland and develop agriculture. 

The company has been instrumental in turning around Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector. In Mashonaland West Province, it assists Hunyani, Arda Sis and Krystal farms, producing wheat, tobacco, maize, cotton and soybeans. 

“We have produced 150,000 tonnes of grains in Zimbabwe over the past decade, and created 500 jobs for local people. In the harvest season, we hire as many as 2,000 employees,” Yuan Hui, general manager of the company, told China Daily. 

“Large-scale agricultural machinery made the process of land preparation, sowing, fertilisation, harvesting and irrigation more efficient, saving both water and labour. The average per-unit output of wheat and corn on our farms is twice that planted on other farms nearby,” Yuan added. 

With the introduction of agricultural machinery and irrigation facilities, farming on the once weed ridden land became more and more efficient, said Yuan. 

Tang Lixia, researcher at the College of Humanities and Development Studies at China Agricultural University, said that China’s investments are contributing to food security and GDP growth in many African countries. 

Since Zimbabwe implemented land reforms, many large commercial farms have been transferred to smaller groups who do not have access to capital to maintain agricultural production. “These groups believe that without the required capital, they cannot use machinery or afford the high costs of agricultural labour,” said Tang. 

According to Tang, without the intervention of Wanjin and the ensuing cooperation, these small groups were risking enormous debts that they could not repay. “In many instances, we also find that the grain produced by Chinese enterprises assisting local farmers has been crucial for the stable supply and flow of materials to local food processing enterprises. Furthermore, Zimbabwe is highly dependent on the export of its agricultural products, and tobacco and cotton are the main cash crops,” she added.  

Exports to China up 

Currently, the main destination market for these products from Zimbabwe is China. 

In 2018, ChinAfrica magazine carried an article on farmer Enock Gara. When Gara received a farm in 2001 through the government’s land redistribution programme, he did not have any tobacco farming experience. 

“For some seasons, the farm was lying idle. Prior to getting the farm, I was used to subsistence farming. I would just grow maize for my family consumption. I also had no input,” he said at the time. 

Gara is now one of the top tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe, producing more than 1,000 bales of tobacco each year. At an average of 71 kg per bale, each kg of tobacco fetches around $3. Gara is one of several farmers in Zimbabwe contracted by the Chinese company Tian Ze Tobacco Ltd. to produce tobacco. 

Through contracts, farmers are not only provided with inputs - such as fertiliser, tools and other necessary equipment - but are also given a pre-arranged price for the final product, one that is often higher than what they could earn on the auction floor. Tian Ze also introduced programmes of interest-free loans, technical help and education, as well as subsidies for inputs. 

“Thanks to the Chinese company, my life has been transformed for the better. I can now send my children to universities through farming,” said Gara. 

Apart from contract farming, Tian Ze is involved in auction floor purchasing, processing, warehousing and exporting of tobacco to China. 

The number of farmers the company supports in Zimbabwe has grown from one in 2005, to 305 now, with farmlands under contract rising from 20 hectares to 8,720 hectares. 

Since inception, Tian Ze has injected $40 million annually in interest free loans towards tobacco production, in addition to free technical support, training and other services to its contracted farmers. 

Data show that tobacco leaf accounts for 10 percent of Zimbabwe’s GDP, underlining its significance to the country’s economy. 

China imported agricultural products worth $332 million from Zimbabwe in the first seven months of 2022, an increase of 111.6 percent year on year, according to the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe. 

The huge jump in imports, the embassy noted, underlines China’s potential as a big market for Zimbabwe’s agricultural products. “As well, China has high-yield investment and technological cooperation in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector,” said Ambassador Guo Shaochun. 

As China’s demand for Zimbabwean agricultural products grows, the General Administration of Customs of China issued an announcement in July last year, allowing the import of fresh citrus from Zimbabwe. 

Zimbabwe has the advantage of good natural conditions that are beneficial for producing low-price, sweet and juicy citrus. The country’s marketing period is also different from the domestic citrus market in China, meaning it can meet ongoing demand in the Chinese market. 

Reporting from Zimbabwe