Zimbabwe is moving closer to eliminating expensive hard wheat imports as breakthroughs in local seed breeding improve the quality of domestically produced wheat. Despite successive bumper harvests, millers have continued importing premium hard wheat because of its superior protein content and gluten strength, both essential for bread flour. The import bill stood at approximately US$124.5 million in 2023, rising to nearly US$135 million in 2024.
Research stations under ARDA (the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority) are carrying out trials aimed at developing wheat varieties with hard wheat characteristics. Government wheat breeders say recent advances show that high grain quality and climate resilience can be achieved at the same time. The stated objective is to develop hard wheat varieties that ultimately remove the need to import hard wheat for the baking industry altogether.
The new varieties being trialled are heat and drought tolerant, forming part of the government's wider climate-proofing strategy for agriculture. Officials have urged farmers, schools, and seed producers to take advantage of improved varieties and expanded irrigation programmes as the breeding work continues.
Separately, Seed Co announced during its year-end analyst briefing (for the financial year ended 31 March 2026) that it has launched a new wheat variety that is whiter than traditional local wheat. The variety was developed specifically to address baker requirements and to reduce the amount of imported wheat needed for blending.
Zimbabwe has historically produced soft wheat since the 1960s. Under current policy, a miller must buy 70% local wheat to access the remaining 30% as imported hard wheat. If local hard wheat production becomes commercially viable at scale, the country's decades-old blending model could eventually be retired. See the flour quality page for more on how millers currently compensate for local wheat's characteristics, and the trade and imports page for the wider import picture.