By Conrad Mwanawashe
Harare — Zimbabwe’s financial services sector has signalled strong appetite to fund the country’s undercapitalised aquaculture value chain, with major banks and microfinance institutions pledging to develop tailored products following a high-level investment roundtable in Harare this week.
This came out at the Aquaculture Investment Roundtable, convened by the Zimbabwe Aquaculture Value Chain Council (ZAqVCC) in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and Chinhoyi University of Technology and the FISH4ACP programme.
The investment roundtable brought together government officials, development partners, and financiers to unlock what Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Professor Obert Jiri, described as “immense potential” in a subsector critical to national food security and rural development.
The objective of the roundtable was to facilitate dialogue on investment and funding for the Zimbabwean aquaculture sector by fostering a relationship between the ZAqVCC and the investment community. Specific objectives of the investment roundtable forum were to:
- Showcase investment-ready opportunities from across the tilapia value chain to a curated audience of potential partners and investors.
- Facilitate matchmaking and networking between ZAqVCC members and potential investors, donors, and financial institutions.
- Demystify the funding landscape by discussing research-based findings on funding mechanisms, including blended finance, grants, and commercial debt.
- Foster commitment and initiate discussions for funding and strategic partnerships.
What emerged as a defining moment was the unified response from financial institutions present—including NMB, FBC, Old Mutual, and the Zimbabwe Agricultural Development Trust—signalling a watershed shift in attitudes toward aquaculture financing.
“We have not been participating in the agriculture and fisheries segment, but we took this opportunity as a learning experience,” said a representative from Old Mutual’s microfinance division. “What we acknowledge is that we in financial services need the technical skillset to develop products that speak to the particular needs of the fisheries market.”
The timing is critical. Zimbabwe currently faces a fingerling deficit of over 2.4 million per season,
with demand reaching 10.86 million against local production of 8.44 million,
according to Professor Jiri.
High feed costs, limited cold chain infrastructure, and inadequate funding continue to constrain growth despite the country’s abundant water resources and favourable climate.
Bridging the SME Financing Gap
Karen Maturure, co-founder of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Development Trust (ZADT), articulated the persistent disconnect between financial institutions and smallholder farmers—particularly women and youth in rural areas.
“Financial institutions do have innovative products for women and youth, but the problem is sometimes the women and youth who need it in rural areas do not know that such products exist,” Maturure said. “Sometimes the financial institutions might not have enough capital to be all over Zimbabwe.”
Her organisation operates through two pillars: an access to finance facility that bridges the gap between banks and farmers, and a business development programme training smallholders in financial management and commercial farming practices.
The financing gap for small and medium-scale enterprises remains acute.
While larger commercial operations can access traditional banking products, SMEs struggle with affordability and inappropriate repayment structures that ignore agricultural cash flows.
FBC Bank’s representative noted the institution has already segmented its approach, with agribusiness products for commercial farmers, business banking for SMEs, and Microplan servicing small-scale players.
“Conversations like this are where we see opportunities to create products which align with cash flows as presented throughout the models,” she said. “We don’t want to give a generic 12-month product with monthly repayments when we should be following the cash flow of the enterprise.”
Import Substitution and Climate Resilience
The financing push comes as Zimbabwe pursues ambitious import substitution targets under National Development Strategy 2, which recognises fisheries as a strategic subsector for investment promotion. The country currently imports significant volumes of fish to meet domestic demand, presenting clear opportunities for local producers.
Aquafeeds reported 25 percent growth in feed sales to small-scale retailers between January and December 2024, demonstrating commercial viability. However, the company expressed concern that farmer numbers are simultaneously shrinking—a paradox that targeted financing could address.
Financial innovation is also converging with climate resilience objectives. Old Mutual identified opportunities to structure financing around environmental, social and governance criteria.
“There was a lot of correlation relating to conservation issues and sustainability,” a CBZ representative noted. “Perhaps this is something we could position from an ESG perspective, where corporates tie in ESG funding portfolios. We could lobby government to provide incentives where we direct ESG funds into financing value chains in fisheries.”
The call for investment comes as Zimbabwe grapples with a significant supply-demand deficit, a point underscored in the FAO’s remarks. “Aquaculture is one of Zimbabwe’s most untapped growth frontiers. Demand for fish is rising fast, yet local production lags far behind consumption, creating market opportunities for producers.”
The organisation highlighted that Zimbabwe possesses the water bodies, climate, and market demand to make aquaculture a high-return sector, but stressed that “capital and innovation” are now urgently needed to scale up existing gains. This sentiment was reinforced by the FISH4ACP programme’s achievements—from training farmers in financial literacy to establishing fingerling hubs—which FAO described as “building blocks for a resilient aquaculture system” that now require substantial private sector backing to reach full potential.
Value Chain Infrastructure Critical
Cold chain logistics and processing infrastructure emerged as priority areas requiring patient capital. The Permanent Secretary’s address explicitly identified “enhancing cold chain infrastructure and market access” among government priorities, alongside strengthening hatchery systems and supporting smallholders with training and inputs.
NMB, which has collaborated extensively with aquaculture stakeholders, called for immediate design sessions to convert proposals into bankable projects. “As a next step, we need to sit down in a design session and work on proposals you can support,” the NMB representative stated. “How do we come together to make sure these projects kick off in the near future?”
Professor Jiri extended government’s commitment to de-risking investments through policy certainty, facilitated access to land and water resources, and coordination across ministries including THE Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority (ZIDA), and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
For Zimbabwe’s aquaculture sector, long characterised by untapped potential, the financiers’ response at the investment roundtable may represent the catalytic moment when dialogue transforms into deployed capital—and when smallholder farmers finally access the affordable credit needed to transform fish production into sustainable enterprise.
