By Tinashe Sambiri
In a move that underscores the dramatic collapse of Zimbabwe’s once-thriving agricultural sector, the Zimbabwean government has announced plans to import milk, sunflower oil, and agricultural machinery from Belarus — a decision critics say signals the country’s failure to restore self-sufficiency decades after the violent land reform program.
The announcement was made by Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, Vangelis Haritatos, during an official visit to Belarus for the Belagro 2025 international exhibition. “Zimbabwe’s milk demand is estimated at 130 million litres per year, and we currently produce 120 million litres,” Haritatos told Belarusian Agriculture Minister Yuri Gorlov. “We are interested in ramping up the output of this product. We also want to buy sunflower oil and agricultural machinery.”
However, critics argue that the need to import such basic commodities is a direct consequence of decades of misguided and chaotic agricultural policies. Zimbabwe, once lauded as the breadbasket of Africa, has suffered a steady decline in agricultural productivity since the early 2000s following the violent and racially charged land reform campaign known as hondo yeminda.
The ZANU-PF-led land seizures displaced thousands of white commercial farmers, many of whom had generations of expertise in large-scale agriculture. Hundreds were killed or forced into exile, and millions of hectares of productive farmland fell into disuse or were handed over to politically connected elites with no agricultural background.
“The irony is staggering,” says agricultural economist Tendai Moyo. “We chased away people who knew how to farm, and now we’re going halfway across the world to buy milk. It’s not just a policy failure — it’s a national tragedy.”
Despite Haritatos’ claims that Belarusian machinery has helped “dramatically increase agricultural productivity,” data from Zimbabwe’s own Ministry of Agriculture shows continued shortfalls in key commodities like maize, wheat, and dairy products. Critics say that importing machinery is a stopgap solution that does not address the root causes of underperformance, such as lack of investment in farmer training, inconsistent government support, and corruption in land allocation.
“This isn’t a partnership of equals — it’s a band-aid over a self-inflicted wound,” says human rights activist Ruvimbo Chitiga. “We can’t import our way out of bad governance.”
While the Belarusian partnership may offer short-term relief, many Zimbabweans are left wondering whether their government will ever make the hard decisions necessary to rebuild the agricultural backbone that once fed the region.
As Zimbabwe ships in milk and machinery from Eastern Europe, the image of a nation that once exported food to its neighbors has faded into memory — replaced by empty silos, idle land, and a growing reliance on foreign aid and imports.