THE Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) has stepped up consultations with stakeholders across key agricultural value chains to improve coordination, address industry challenges and unlock growth.
The regulator has held meetings with farmers, processors, financiers and policymakers from sectors including grains and oilseeds, dairy, livestock, cotton and industrial hemp, saying the process is aimed at ensuring policies reflect on-the-ground realities.
AMA chief executive Alice Mapfiza said the consultations highlight the authority’s collaborative approach.
“At AMA, we believe that the best policies are those developed in partnership with the people who are actively participating in the sector. Our role is not only to regulate, but also to listen, coordinate and facilitate growth across the entire agricultural value chain,” she said.
She said that the engagements are meant to improve transparency and investment in agriculture.
“We want the sector to know that AMA is open for business. We are engaging farmers, financiers, processors and traders so that together we can identify solutions that unlock growth in every value chain,” Mapfiza said.
Accordingly, players in the grains and oilseeds sector called for stronger coordination ahead of the marketing season, improved market transparency, clearer levy structures and integrated grain marketing systems to enhance price discovery and access to finance. Irrigation development was also flagged as key to boosting productivity and climate resilience.
In the dairy sector, industry players said output has gradually recovered since 2021 after Covid-19 disruptions, but production remains below 1990s levels and short of national demand.
The sector is targeting 400 million litres annually in the long term, though it continues to face high feed costs, power shortages, expensive utilities, illegal imports and counterfeit products.
Emerging sectors such as industrial hemp were also discussed. Zimbabwe legalised commercial production under Statutory Instrument 218 of 2020, with AMA as regulator, as it seeks to tap into a global market valued at about $6.2 billion in 2024.
Mapfiza said the consultations would continue to promote inclusive growth.
“Agriculture thrives when stakeholders work together. Through these engagements, we are creating a platform where farmers, industry players and Government can collectively shape the future of Zimbabwe’s agricultural markets.
“Our vision is to build a well-coordinated agricultural marketing system that supports farmers, attracts investment and strengthens Zimbabwe’s position in regional and global agricultural markets,” she said.