Zimbabwe

Caption: Interactive map presenting country specific data, including universities and incubators contacted for the study and the digital innovations identified at the time of the study

Full country profile (PDF)

Zimbabwe Ranked 7 out of 16 Countries in the Benchmark

The benchmark assessment reflects the extent to which Zimbabwe is unlocking positive pathways towards a digital economy and supporting a vibrant ecosystem of different actors. 

Caption: Results from Benchmark Assessment for Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe ranked 7 out of 16 in the benchmark assessment which suggests that it has some key foundational elements necessary for a robust digital economy. 

Zimbabwe ranked in a range of positions for most pillars but ranked highest (3) in digital skills (which identifies the presence of an ecosystem that supports homegrown firms to generate world-class products and services that help to widen and deepen digital economic transformation). 

Zimbabwe ranked lowest (13) for digital business (which identifies the development of a robust marketplace for digital trade, digital financial services, and digital content).

Caption: Overall Benchmark Assessment Results and Rank for all SADC member states

For further information on the benchmark results and regional trends please read the Situational Analysis Report.

Zimbabwe Has Embraced Digitalization but a Clearer Mandate is Required for the Agriculture Sector

The benchmark assessment suggested that Zimbabwe’s digital economy is in transition, and it seems that there is a lot in the pipeline in terms of development of policies, strategies, and legislation. 

There are few policies, strategies and legislation governing the innovation space with regards to digital technologies that can be applied to the agriculture sector. 

Digitalization has been actively embraced in Zimbabwe’s general strategies, but effort should be made to provide a clearer mandate on how technologies are best incorporated into the agriculture sector and balance the trade-offs involved in greater digitalization.

There is desire and drive from leadership to prioritize and stimulate the agricultural economy and to actively embed digital technologies within the economy. Challenges remain though in the sector, affected by lack of access to capital, shortage of ICT skills and low investment in Research and Development (R&D). 

35 Innovations were Identified in Zimbabwe with the Most Common Providing Digital Advisory Services

All use cases were present in Zimbabwe: digital advisory, agri-digital financial services, digital procurement, agri e-commerce and smart farming. The majority addressed digital advisory, followed by agri e-commerce and digital procurement. 

Innovations targeted a wide range of outcomes: addressing knowledge gaps, poor access to markets and low productivity. 

Caption: Diagram illustrating number of identified innovations and their sub use case solutions.

Innovations in Zimbabwe are present at all stages of the value chain, with most targeted to the planning, on-farm production, and access to market stages. 

Caption: Diagram illustrating number of innovations identified in each phase of the value chain

The major challenges they experienced in the application of their technology was the lack of digital literacy in their target customers and encouraging farmer uptake and behavior change. 

For smallholder farmers the challenges and poor penetration of innovation and technologies is down to limited infrastructure, high access costs and low digital literacy levels.

Digital Agriculture Entrepreneurship is an Emerging Area That Requires a Better Enabling Environment 

Policies to support the role of digitalization in agriculture need to be promoted so that they can promote digital entrepreneurship development within the country and support innovators. 

Universities lack adequate preparation and funds to prepare students to acquire new skills in digital agriculture and create new business opportunities in the current labor market. 

Incubators and innovation hubs have integrated digital agriculture trainings in their curricula but require greater support in developing training manuals for these skills and improving technical skills of trainers within the local context. 

Greater access to seed funding is required to help nurture innovations hubs in agricultural departments, colleges, and universities.

The Zimbabwe NREN, represented by ZARNet and ZIMREN, require continued support from the Government to build internet connectivity infrastructure and services that will promote agricultural digital entrepreneurship and advanced agricultural digital literacy.

Icons - credit to NounProject https://thenounproject.com/