GOVERNMENT has intensified research on alternate wheat varieties to cut on durum imports, as the country enters the third consecutive year of surpassing its self-sufficiency figure of 360 000 tonnes per year.
Wheat production has gone above the self-sufficiency level with over 375 000 tonnes produced in 2022, which rose to 467 905 the following season and 563 961 in 2024.
Surplus production rose from over 5 000 tonnes in 2022 to the current 203 961.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos said the process of looking for alternative varieties had started.
"We have intensified the process of looking at alternative hard wheat varieties, though currently the economics are disincentivising.
"Our researchers are busy with their sciences to come up with high yielding varieties to enable commercial production of hard wheat and curtail imports," he said.
The Dep Min said the country currently had a comparative advantage in growing soft wheat and would continue to support this programme in the long run.
Hard wheat has a higher protein content and gluten strength than soft wheat, making it better for bread making, while soft wheat performs better in products like cakes and pastries.
He said while it would be a noble cause to introduce hard wheat durum varieties now, it typically comes with lower yields and so the economics of it in the long run have to be assessed.
Zimbabwe has been producing soft wheat since inception in the 1960s. Policy dictates that a miller must buy 70 percent of local wheat to be able to access 30 percent of imported hard wheat.
Dep Min Haritatos said this policy had been extremely successful with millers and subsequently bakers who have been producing exceptional quality flour and bread, respectively.
Government's current focus is on reducing input costs and adherence to good agronomic practices (GAPs), which will ensure that top quality soft wheat with high protein, wet gluten and dry gluten is produced.
"Cabinet has directed us to look into strengthening the wheat value chain and we have already started this process by setting up a joint committee comprising members from the three ministries of Agriculture, Finance and Industry," the Dep Min added.
Dep Min Haritatos said one large miller only mills local wheat and produces top quality flour.
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Since this was not possible in the past it shows that the quality of wheat has actually improved substantially, he observed.
Until 2021, the country has been producing wheat below the self-sufficiency level of 360 000 tonnes and only reached the inflection point from 2022 to date when it is getting surplus.
A wheat breeder who requested anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak said the country was producing spring wheat varieties and not winter varieties, as a result of local climatic conditions.
"Winter wheat varieties are grown in temperate climates and need sub-zero temperatures to flower and these are grown in countries like Russia.
"Zimbabwe cultivates Spring wheat like other countries in tropical and sub-tropical climates," he said.
He said they were in the laboratory seized with research on how to grow hard wheat in the country to ensure total self-sufficiency from local production.
Meanwhile, wheat imports plunged 17 percent in the first half of 2024 with year-end results yet to be availed.
Statistics from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) show that the value of unmilled durum wheat imports dropped 17 percent from US$65 377 188 in the first half of 2023 to US$48 270 623 in the comparable period last year.
