Zimbabwean women produce a significant share of the country's food, dominate horticulture and small livestock production and form the backbone of rural agriculture, yet many remain locked out of the financial systems, technologies and resources needed to grow their businesses and adapt to a changing climate.
From communal fields in rural districts to emerging commercial enterprises on the outskirts of cities, women farmers continue to face barriers accessing loans, agricultural insurance and modern farming technologies, challenges that experts say threaten both gender equality and national food security.
The issue took centre stage last week in Harare during the Women in Agriculture Zimbabwe (WIAZ) Conference held under the theme "Women Leading the Future of Smart Agriculture in a Changing Climate."
The gathering brought together government officials, financial institutions, insurers, development organisations and women farmers from across the country to discuss the future of agriculture in an era increasingly defined by droughts, erratic rainfall and rising temperatures.
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While Zimbabwe has made efforts to increase women's participation in agriculture, delegates said structural inequalities continue to place female farmers at a disadvantage compared to their male counterparts.
Among the most pressing concerns raised were limited access to finance, lack of collateral security, inadequate financial literacy and restricted access to training in modern and climate-smart farming techniques.
For many women farmers, securing agricultural finance remains out of reach.
Banks and lending institutions often require title deeds, immovable property or other assets as collateral before extending loans, requirements many women struggle to meet because land ownership remains disproportionately concentrated in the hands of men.
Although women make up a large share of the agricultural workforce, many farm on communal land or on plots registered in the names of husbands or male relatives, leaving them without the legal documentation required to access credit.
The result is that many female farmers continue operating at a subsistence level despite having the potential to scale production.
Without financing, women are often unable to purchase irrigation equipment, tractors, quality seed, fertiliser or modern farming technologies that could improve productivity and resilience against climate shocks.
The challenge is becoming more urgent as climate change reshapes Zimbabwe's agricultural landscape.
The country has experienced repeated droughts and erratic rainfall patterns in recent years, forcing farmers to adopt precision agriculture, irrigation technologies and climate-smart farming practices.
Yet many rural women farmers remain excluded from the training and knowledge required to transition to these new systems.
Speaking to 263Chat on the sidelines of the conference, Women in Agriculture Zimbabwe Chairperson Petronella Murambiwa said the organisation was created to bridge those gaps by bringing together women across the agricultural value chain.
"Women in Agriculture Zimbabwe is a network of women operating in the agricultural sector, ranging from technocrats to smallholder farmers," Murambiwa said.
"This conference is giving women an opportunity to exchange ideas about precision agriculture and climate-smart agriculture, especially as we prepare for future agricultural seasons under increasingly difficult climatic conditions."
Murambiwa said the platform allows women to learn from one another while creating opportunities for market access and aggregation.
"The opportunities that are present are that women can exchange ideas, empower themselves and gain access to markets through aggregation and the exchange of ideas," she said.
Government officials say several interventions are already in place to support women farmers.
Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) Chief Director Medlinah Magwenzi told 263Chat that the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has established dedicated structures to engage women in agriculture and address their concerns.
"As a ministry, we have what we call working groups, which are chaired by the minister himself, and among those we have a working group for women in agriculture where they come and discuss the challenges they are facing and how they can be addressed," Magwenzi said.
She said government-supported grants are available for women in sectors such as dairy production, horticulture and farming enterprises under various national programmes.
Among these are initiatives targeting irrigation development, village business units and borehole drilling programmes intended to reduce women's workload while improving agricultural productivity.
"We are drilling boreholes for women to lessen the burden because women are the ones who travel long distances to fetch water and water gardens," she said.
"Mainly it is women who do horticulture and rear small livestock, so government support in water provision, inputs and knowledge transfer is targeting those areas."
Magwenzi said the ministry had introduced performance targets across government departments to ensure women are included in empowerment programmes.
She also acknowledged that collateral requirements remain a major obstacle preventing women from accessing formal finance.
"We are training women to focus on operational collateral through proper record keeping instead of relying entirely on tangible collateral," she said.
Magwenzi added that the government was working with the Women's Bank and recently introduced a tractor programme specifically reserved for women farmers.
"We have put out 150 tractors, and they are meant for women. Women are not expected to compete with men for those tractors," she said.
Beyond access to finance, experts say agricultural insurance remains another major gap.
According to industry players, many women farmers continue to operate without insurance cover, leaving them vulnerable to droughts, floods, livestock diseases and other climate-related losses.
Speaking at the conference, Sydyne Mbava, Client SMEs Sales Executive at Wonayi Agency, said misconceptions and lack of awareness continue to discourage women from taking up insurance products.
"The number one thing that is missing in terms of insurance for women is a lack of knowledge," Mbava said.
"Women are scared to insure because they think they are not the rightful people to get insurance, and that is something we need to educate on and support."
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Mbava said financial institutions and insurers have a responsibility to demystify insurance products and improve access for female farmers.
"We are here to make sure women know exactly what they need to insure, how to insure and make sure that everything they insure can be compensated in the long run," she said.
Development organisations say the challenges facing women farmers extend beyond access to loans and insurance.
Simba Guzha of VSO Zimbabwe said financial literacy remains a significant obstacle, particularly among rural women farmers who often have limited interaction with formal financial institutions.
He called on banks, development partners and private sector players to design financial products that reflect the realities of rural agriculture rather than conventional urban lending models.
Guzha said organisations should increase investments in financial literacy programmes and support systems that help women transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.
Agricultural experts argue that closing the gender gap could significantly increase productivity and improve food security.
Studies by international development agencies have consistently shown that women farmers achieve comparable or higher yields when given equal access to land, credit, training and agricultural inputs.
As Zimbabwe seeks to build resilience against climate change and strengthen food production, delegates at the conference said empowering women farmers is no longer simply a gender issue but an economic imperative.
For many of the women gathered in Harare last week, the challenge is not whether women can lead agriculture into the future.
The challenge, they say, is whether the systems that govern land ownership, finance and technology are prepared to support them.
