EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE AGRARIAN SECTOR IN ZIMBABWE: PROSPECTS
AND CHALLENGES

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE AGRARIAN SECTOR IN ZIMBABWE: PROSPECTS
AND CHALLENGES

KEITH TICHAONA TASHU

TAFADZWA MOYO

SYLVESTER MARUMAHOKO

Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been a significant contributor to the growth
and socio-economic development in countries and sectors where they are well deployed.
Innovative ICT’s range from computers, radio, television and mobile phones to advanced
technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Internet of Things
and big data analytics are among the current trends. The study adopted extant qualitative
paradigm to generate information. Research findings indicates that, Zimbabwe is prone to
shocks that affect agricultural and livestock production, including extreme weather events,
inflation, and external geopolitical conflicts. However, there are opportunities for boosting
agricultural productivity in the agriculture sector in Zimbabwe making use of ICT tools and
agriculture is expected to be a trillion-dollar industry by 2030 if these tools are fully embraced.
Despite milestones achieved of ICTs adoption in the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe such as
microfinance and mobile banking, mobile phones and radio, there exist a gap between small
holder farmers, communal farmers and commercial farmers. Commercial farmers are fast
adopting emerging technologies whilst small holder farmers and communal farmers are faced
with challenges which include lack of security of land to access loans, high cost of data and
low capacity, among other challenges. To promote innovation and growth of digital agriculture
solutions, the government of Zimbabwe could consider enacting tax incentives for companies
and organisations developing services that drive rural adoption, especially among farmers and
other agricultural value chain actors

ZJBEM

2025