Enhancing Farmer-Consumer Linkages Through Technology Adoption and Sustainable Marketing in Zimbabwe's Agricultural Sector

Introduction

The agricultural sector in Zimbabwe plays a critical role in the economy, contributing significantly to food security, employment, and rural livelihoods. Agriculture accounts for about 12-15% of Zimbabwe's GDP and over 60% of raw materials used in the manufacturing and industrial sectors (Runganga and Mhaka, 2021). Smallholder farmers make up majority of the agricultural producers, highlighting the sector's importance for rural livelihoods and poverty reduction. However, the sector faces persistent challenges like inefficient traditional marketing channels, poor transport and storage infrastructure, limited access to credit, and low technology adoption (Matandare, 2017, Gwanongodza, 2020, GODFREY, 2016). These limitations hamper productivity, farmer incomes, food security, and sustainability within the sector.

In particular, the lack of adoption of innovative technologies like precision agriculture, vertical farming, and bio-genetic techniques constrains potential efficiency and sustainability gains. Precision agriculture harnesses tools like GPS, satellite imagery, sensors, and variable rate technologies to optimize resource usage, reduce waste, and enhance productivity and traceability across agricultural operations (Zengeya et al., 2021, Musungwini et al., 2023). Vertical farming enables optimized indoor food production through hydroponics, LED lighting, climate control, and multi-level crop cultivation (Ndhlovu and Mhlanga, 2023). It allows for high yields with reduced water and land usage. Bio-genetic technologies like genetic engineering, gene editing, and marker-assisted breeding facilitate rapid development of climate resilient, nutritionally improved, and higher yielding seed varieties (Musara et al., 2012). Wider adoption of such technologies in Zimbabwe, combined with enabling sustainable farming practices, can strengthen farmer-consumer linkages and sustainable marketing.

Sustainable farming practices like integrated pest management, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and soil conservation have proven environmental and economic benefits but see limited uptake among smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe (Mujeyi et al., 2020). However, greater adoption of precision, vertical, and bio-genetic technologies may directly enable and incentivize such sustainable practices by enhancing efficiency, traceability, climate resilience, and adaptation support. In turn, widespread sustainable practices can facilitate farmer access to premium markets, higher prices, and direct consumer linkages through sustainability certifications and blockchain-enabled transparent food tracing systems.

The aim of this quantitative study is to analyze the relationships between adoption of precision agriculture technology, vertical farming technology, and bio-genetic technology as independent variables, sustainable farming practices as a mediating variable, and sustainable marketing of produce as the dependent variable in Zimbabwe's agricultural sector. Specifically, the study seeks to assess the current level of technology adoption, examine how these technologies influence uptake of sustainable practices, evaluate the role of sustainable practices in enabling access to sustainable agriculture marketing platforms and price premiums, and identify challenges influencing technology adoption and sustainable farming. The findings will provide recommendations for targeted policies and interventions to promote technology adoption, sustainable practices, and direct farmer-consumer market linkages to strengthen agricultural sustainability, productivity, and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe. Surveys and statistical modeling will be used to analyze the relationships between the variables