I am a huge proponent of agriculture; it is an interesting investment area. It is a well-established truth that agriculture is central to the Zimbabwean economy. It is sadly nowhere near what it used to be and it would be great to get back to and even exceed that. Agriculture contributes roughly 17 per cent to Zimbabwe’s GDP. Up to 70 per cent of Zimbabweans get their jobs and income from agriculture. Over 60 per cent of raw materials used by Zimbabwean industries come from agriculture. Export-wise over 40 per cent comes from agriculture. This all clearly shows you the importance of agriculture in Zimbabwe.
An Overview Of Nyaradzo Group
The Nyaradzo Group is a leading brand in providing quality insurance and event solutions. They major in financial, insurance, risk and events management. It is made up of 4 core units namely, Nyaradzo Life Assurance Company, Calundike Exports, Eureka Insurance Brokers, and Sahwira Events and Lifestyle. They have 19 years of experience (coming onto 20 years now) and have done a lot in corporate social responsibility initiatives in Zimbabwe. Their services have also gone beyond Zimbabwe into the diaspora market e.g. South Africa and the UK.
Sahwira Agriculture – Recent Development
As an addition to its ever-growing group of companies, Nyaradzo Group now has Sahwira Agriculture. The company is currently in the process of raising US$20 million towards commercial agriculture. The funds are meant to be used for capital expenditure and working capital. This is one of their major projects this year which has been approved for prescribed asset status. Sahwira Agriculture is a vehicle being used to scale up investments into commercial crop production in Zimbabwe. The core focus will be the commercial production of maize and wheat. Currently, Sahwira Agriculture is farming on over 2000 hectares of land and has plans to expand more. Their business model leans more on commercial crop production for the export market.
Globally it is said that over US$265 billion still needs to be invested into agriculture to ensure food security between now and 2030. That is a huge gap that shows us we need more investment to be channelled towards agriculture. It is therefore quite refreshing to see initiatives involving more investments in agriculture, especially in Zimbabwe. There are lots of business opportunities in Zimbabwean agriculture. I also have a separate article where I look at prospects in sustainable agriculture. With more and more people getting into smart agriculture practices e.g. greenhouse farming, the future will be much better. We are also seeing more people leaning towards the use of renewable energy in agricultural production in Zimbabwe. All this is central to restoring the glory of our local agriculture industry.
