Zimbabwe, August 2025
Finalization of Zimbabwe’s First National Rice Development Strategy to be officialized soon!
Background
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of Zimbabwe has recently finalized its first National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS-0) which was internally validated by the Task Force (TF) on August 7th, 2025. As a result, the TF embarked in the process of elaboration of Concept Notes as tools for fundraising with Development Partners.
Methodology
The working week started with the presentation of the draft NRDS and incorporation of additional comments from stakeholders culminating with its internal validation by the TF. Following the internal validation the six pillars shown below were identified to serve as the basis for the development of Concept Notes (CN).
Pillar 1. Sustainable production and productivity,
Pillar 2. Irrigation development and water management,
Pillar 3. Post harvest loss management and value addition,
Pillar 4. Market and market development,
Pillar 5. Research development, variety improvement and seed multiplication and,
Pillar 6. Policy and regulatory environment.
Overview of the rice sector in Zimbabwe
Rice has been declared a strategic commodity in Zimbabwe. The country has 10,600 strategically positioned small, medium and large dams with the potential to irrigate more than 2 million hectares of land. Currently there are 462 functional irrigation schemes across the country suitable for rice production. The National Rice Development Strategy seeks to unlock this potential and reduce import bill of rice.
Working groups for elaboration of Concept Notes
At the end of each working day, the working groups assembled to assess the progress achieved in different thematic areas.
At the end of the workshop on day 5 (August 8, 2025), the participants came up with eight draft CN as indicated below.
List of Proposed Concept Notes
| N° | Title of Project | Duration | Project cost (USD) |
| 1 | Knowledge and technology transfer in the rice value chain | 5 years | 60,000,000 |
| 2 | Strengthening participation of vulnerable groups in the rice value chain | 5 years | 10,000,000 |
| 3 | Establish effective regulatory and policy systems within the rice value chain in Zimbabwe | 5 years | 200, 000 |
| 4 | Development and Rehabilitation of Irrigation schemes for rice based cropping systems | 5 years | 900,000,000 |
| 5 | Establishing agro-processing hubs for rice to minimise losses, preserve food quality and safety, in Zimbabwe. | 5 years | 40,000,000 |
| 6 | Development of Improved Rice Varieties and Production of Early Generation Seed for Major Rice-Growing Ecologies | 5 years | 10,000,000 |
| 7 | Enhancing Market Access & Competitiveness for Local Rice Production | 5 years | 4,000,000 |
| 8 | Improving rice production through selection of rice varieties that are tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses in Zimbabwe. | 5 years | 5,000,000 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 1,029,200,000 | ||
Praiseworthy participation of the Task Force
The reporter would like to recognize the active participation of all TF Members during the review of the draft NRDS, and incorporation of additional comments provided by several stakeholders. Their engagement meant working until late in the evening to make sure the objectives of the workshop were met. Emphasis is made for high level authorities in the Ministry throughout the working week. Their participation was instrumental in bringing about the Government’s views and guidance, which is expected to facilitate the process of approval and implementation of the next steps.
Next steps
At the end of the workshop, the participants come up with the consensus that
The proposed schedule for the next steps is as follows:
| No | Actions | Timeline | Responsibility |
| 1 | Internal validation of NRDS by TF | August 8, 2025 | TF |
| 2 | Share the Draft 0 NRDS and CN proposals for comments by TF members | August 8, 2025 | TF |
| 3 | Finalization of Draft 1 and submission to higher levels of MLAFWRD | September 30, 2025 | TF |
| 4 | Submission of Draft 1 to other Stakeholders and DP for comments including CN | September 30, 2025 | FP |
| 5 | Editing of Concept Notes by TF | September 30, 2025 | TF |
| 6 | Final validation NRDS | TBD | FP |
| 7 | Meetings with DP for Fund Mobilization | TBD | FP-TF |
| 8 | M&E data collection in preparation for the next ARSRM | April, 2026 | FP-TF |
| 9 | ARSRM | 2nd week of Jun 2026 | FP-TF |
| 10 | Funds mobilization | Continuous | TF |
Presentation and incorporation of comments in the draft NRDS-0
Presentation of group work
