Zimbabwe, like many countries, has made partial but uneven progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Only three SDGs are showing progress, seven stagnating, and five require more effort. Food security, climate‑smart agriculture, and access to basic services show the strongest gains, while poverty eradication, decent job creation, and governance reforms remain slow. Zimbabwe’s 2024 Voluntary National Review Report also highlighted steady progress in social indicators such as health and education. The country also made notable strides in infrastructure, economic stabilization and implementing policy reforms.
The country’s progress towards achieving the SDGs has been impacted by overlapping global crises that include the triple crisis in food, energy and finance as well as conflicts, climate change, and geopolitical tensions. In addition, progress has been hampered by frequent droughts, economic instability and financing gaps. As a result of climate change, the frequency of droughts has increased. The country has experienced at least nine episodes of drought since 1980. The 2024-2025 El Nino-induced drought, one of the most severe in decades, reversed food security gains and left 7.7 million people food insecure. The drought also amplified economic pressures on livelihoods, especially when considering that the agriculture sector contributes about 17 per cent to GDP and employs 70 per cent of the population. During National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1, 2021-2025), the sector was anchored by the implementation of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy (2020-2025). This strategy successfully increased climate-proofed farming to protect smallholder farmers through home-grown solutions such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa.
To drive inclusive growth and overcome these challenges, Zimbabwe is transitioning from its National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1, 2021-2025) into NDS2 (2026-2030), which serves as the final push toward the 2030 targets and the country’s “Vision 2030.” NDS2 has identified ten broad priorities that are aligned with the SDGs and AU Agenda 2063 as anchors of the national economic blueprint. During NDS2, renewed emphasis is being placed on ensuring food and nutrition security, sustainable rural livelihoods and agricultural-led economic growth, through the implementation of the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy (2026-2030). In particular, the food security, climate resilience and environmental protection priority area seeks to ensure food and nutrition security through climate-smart agriculture and irrigation. NDS2 also places a strong emphasis on adopting science, technology and innovation to build a knowledge-driven economy as well as mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Strategic partnerships through North-South, South-South and Triangular cooperation are also identified as critical enablers.
In that regard, in 2021, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement of the Government of Zimbabwe decided to partner with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs to implement a project titled “Enhancing capacity of developing countries to achieve sustainable agriculture through the transfer of Juncao technology for alleviating poverty and promoting productive employment.” A national workshop to launch the project was held in November 2021. Since then, policymakers, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders have participated in a series of regional and international capacity building workshops and study tours organized by DSDG/DESA and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University of China, including visits to China, Rwanda, and Fiji. In 2024, equipment to support mushroom production using Juncao technology was also sent to Zimbabwe and has since been installed at Gwebi Agricultural College.
