Integrated rural transformation and agriculture-led industrialisation have taken centre stage at this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) 2026.
Lands and Rural Development minister, Vangelis Peter Haritatos, said rural transformation was now firmly embedded in the national development trajectory.
“Rural development is no longer peripheral; it is central to our economic strategy,” Haritatos told Southern Eye Business during a tour of the ministry’s stand at the ZITF.”
He added that the government was accelerating investments in rural infrastructure, noting that improved connectivity and services were critical to unlocking rural productivity.
“We are intensifying the rollout of roads, schools, clinics and market infrastructure because development must be felt at household level,” the minister said. “This is how we unlock real economic participation in rural areas.”
Haritatos emphasised that value addition remained a key driver of rural industrialisation.
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“We cannot continue exporting raw produce while importing finished goods,” he said. “Rural industrialisation is about ensuring that value is created where resources are produced.”
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to building resilient rural economies anchored on value addition, infrastructure development and localised production systems.
“We are working towards an upper middle-income economy, and that goal must be built on productive land use and empowered rural communities,” Haritatos said.
Land and Rural Development ministry permanent secretary, Obert Jiri, also outlined the rural transformation strategy, describing agriculture as the backbone of national development.
“Agriculture remains the most powerful lever for transforming our economy,” he said. “When properly structured, it drives industrialisation faster than any other sector.”
Jiri said the government was deliberately linking agriculture to industrial development through beneficiation and localisation of value chains.
“We are shifting from production alone to full value chain development. What is grown in our villages must also be processed in our districts,” he said.
He highlighted the Rural Development 8.0 programme, which decentralises development through village business units and school business units tailored to local conditions.
“Each village must begin to think like an economic unit. Development must start from the ground up, not be imposed from above,” Jiri said.
He also confirmed plans to assign a flagship industry to every district.
“Every district must have a defined economic identity,” Jiri said.
“This is how we build structured, sustainable rural economies.”