This chapter explores the transformative role of ICTs in revolutionizing agricultural sector of developing nations like Zimbabwe. By scrutinizing the current state of traditional and inefficient agricultural marketing in Zimbabwe, the study advocates for the potential of ICTs to enhance competitiveness and profitability. The benefits of digitizing marketing include minimizing information asymmetry, facilitating price discovery, expanding market linkages, improving financial access, and enabling traceability. Simultaneously, the paper delves into key challenges such as infrastructure limitations, skills gaps, affordability issues, gender disparities, and cultural factors that must be addressed. To create an enabling environment for digitizing agricultural marketing, the study recommends targeted policy and regulatory interventions. It concludes that strategic investments in ICT infrastructure and the capacity-building of farmers are crucial to fully unlock the potentials of ICTs, leading to improved incomes and enhanced rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe.
TopBackground Of The Study
Historically, Zimbabwe held the title of the “breadbasket of Africa” due to a robust large-scale commercial farming sector, complemented by significant smallholder production for domestic markets (Chipuriro, 2021). Agriculture played a pivotal role, contributing over 45% of all exports in the 1980s and supporting livelihoods for more than 66% of the population (Moyo, 2016). However, a confluence of factors, including fast-track land reform, hyperinflation, declining productivity, climate change, and deteriorating infrastructure, resulted in a substantial decline in agricultural output(Chihambakwe, 2018; Raftopoulos et al., 2021). Between 2000 and 2008, maize production, a staple crop, contracted by 76%, impacting food self-sufficiency in Zimbabwe (Matema, 2021).
Zimbabwe underwent a transformation from a net agricultural exporter to relying heavily on food and raw material imports over the past two decades(Gwanongodza, 2020). Challenges contributing to this shift include constraints in fertilizer, machinery, and irrigation; inconsistent trade policies; climate vulnerabilities; water scarcity; financial exclusion limiting investments; weak rural infrastructure; and fragmented, inefficient value chains (Mujeyi et al., 2022; Sachikonye, 2021). Smallholder farmers, in particular, face formidable barriers in accessing inputs, credit, extension services, technologies, and formal markets, impeding viability, commercialization, and competitiveness (Mango et al., 2017).