Zimbabwe targets US$1B horticulture exports by 2030
The European Union, a major market for Zimbabwe’s horticultural exports, is also providing technical support and funding through the European Investment Bank.
ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe’s horticultural sector has targeted US$1 billion in exports by 2030, up from US$120 million currently, the Horticultural Development Council (HDC) said on 17 September 2026.
The southern African country’s horticultural exports peaked at US$140 million in 1999, before former President Robert Mugabe championed the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless black people.
The land seizures disrupted Zimbabwe’s agriculture-driven economy, triggering food shortages and a prolonged economic crisis culminating in hyperinflation of 500 billion percent in 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Zimbabwe now earns US$120 million annually from exporting horticultural products, including citrus, flowers, tea, avocados, blueberries, and macadamia nuts, according to the Horticultural Development Council (HDC).
“We have to grow 10 times to reach this goal, and obviously it calls for rapid expansion in the sector,” HDC vice president Linda Nielsen told a horticultural conference in Harare.
The targeted growth would require US$1.2 billion investment, according to the HDC, an uphill task for a sector struggling with an inconsistent policy and regulatory environment, high borrowing costs, logistics challenges, and persistent concerns over land tenure.
Increasing investment in products such as blueberries and macadamia nuts, whose global demand has surged in recent years, is helping traditional products such as citrus, tea, and flowers drive the rebound.
“We see a revival of up to 10,000 hectares (of citrus plantations) by 2030. Most of it was lost to land reform,” Citrus Growers Association President Pete Breinstein said at the conference.
Zimbabwe’s government, under Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has sought to improve relations with white farmers and is supporting the revival of agriculture, including funding.
Additionally, the European Union, a major market for Zimbabwe’s horticultural exports, is also providing technical support and funding through the European Investment Bank.
“We believe we can get there, provided there is an enabling environment and user-friendly financing,” HDC president Stanley Heri said.
Ultimately, the plan aims to revive a once-thriving pillar of the Zimbabwean economy, with success hinging on the government’s ability to create a stable regulatory environment, secure international financial backing, and resolve land tenure concerns that have deterred long-term investment.
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