Emerging Technologies and the Agrarian Sector in Zimbabwe: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

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.