• Registered buyers bought 2.315 million kilogrammes during the 2025/26 season
• Production rose from 766 tonnes to 20,667 tonnes in one year
• The next harvest needs contracted demand and higher yields

Harare — Registered sesame buyers purchased 2.315 million kilogrammes worth US$1.84 million during the 2025/26 marketing season, according to the Agricultural Marketing Authority.

The average recorded value was about US$0.79 per kilogramme. That market closed against a production forecast of 29,252 tonnes, leaving the industry without a published account of how harvest volumes, registered purchases, stocks and exports fit together.

Sesame is an oilseed crop grown for its small edible seeds and the oil extracted from them. The seed is used in food products, baking and cooking, while sesame oil serves food and cosmetic markets. Its commercial appeal to Zimbabwe rests on export demand and its suitability for producers seeking a cash crop with lower input requirements in drier areas.

Zimbabwe has built sesame acreage faster than it has built a commercial market for the crop. Farmers have responded to its export potential, yet buyers, contractors and exporters still lack a value chain that can absorb a larger harvest at known grades and prices, with enough traceability to support finance and formal exports.

The crop’s production record shows why a large forecast cannot carry the investment case on its own. Sesame production stood at 5,427 tonnes from 18,422 hectares in the 2021/22 season. It rose to 23,176 tonnes in 2022/23, then fell to 766 tonnes in 2023/24 before recovering to 20,667 tonnes during 2024/25.

Planted area expanded to 62,259 hectares in 2024/25 from 18,422 hectares three seasons earlier. Yield reached about 0.62 tonnes per hectare in 2022/23 before falling to roughly 0.33 tonnes per hectare in 2024/25. The recovery in output came with a major expansion in land under sesame, while yield remained well below the earlier level.

That distinction carries directly into farmer income and export capacity. More hectares can produce a large harvest when rainfall and planting conditions improve. Higher yield per hectare lowers unit costs, gives contractors more crop from every financed farmer and creates a stronger base for cleaning, storage and export investment.

Zimbabwe’s 2025 export performance offers an early measure of demand, although it also exposes the sector’s remaining limits. Sesame exports rose from 1.304 million kilogrammes worth US$1.52 million in 2024 to about 3.76 million kilogrammes worth US$3.84 million in 2025. Average export value fell from US$1.17 per kilogramme to about US$1.02 per kilogramme as volume expanded.

The export price cannot be compared directly with the registered-buyer value. Export proceeds carry the cost of aggregation, cleaning, transport, finance, documentation and margin, while sesame prices vary by grade and destination. The figures still establish a need for better disclosure. Farmers and financiers require published farmgate prices by grade, while exporters need clearer evidence of the quality premium Zimbabwe can earn after the crop leaves the farm.

AMA introduced sesame marketing rules in 2025 after the crop attracted unregistered buyers and disputes around contracting arrangements. The rules require growers, contractors, traders and processors to register, while contractors must provide production and marketed-volume information. Compliance operations during the latest season led to seven tickets worth US$77,000 and the confiscation of 26,096 kilogrammes of sesame.

Registration can protect contractors who provide seed, inputs or financing before harvest. It can also improve export documentation and give the authority a clearer record of marketed volumes. The arrangement will only hold where registered buyers offer competitive prices, collect crop reliably and settle farmers quickly enough to outweigh the cash appeal of informal trading.

The 2.315 million kilogrammes recorded during the latest season should be read as registered-buyer throughput rather than national production or total crop availability. Harvesting, storage, household retention, carry-over stocks, unregistered trade and the timing of export shipments can all create differences between those figures. AMA needs to publish a crop balance that reconciles assessed production, registered procurement, domestic processing, stocks and exports.

That record would move sesame from a promising crop into a financeable agricultural business. Contractors could assess whether their input advances are producing enough marketed seed. Exporters could plan storage and cleaning capacity against an observable pipeline. Banks and insurers would have a firmer basis for pricing seasonal finance and production risk.

The economic case for sesame remains strong where it diversifies rural income away from crops with higher input demands and narrower markets. The country has already proved that production can rise rapidly. The next phase requires the market to keep pace with the farm.

A credible 2026/27 programme would publish farmgate prices by grade, registered purchases by producing district, contracted hectares, yields, export volumes and export values. It would also show how much seed passes through cleaning and local processing before shipment. Higher tonnage without that market architecture would leave farmers exposed to weak price discovery and leave Zimbabwe exporting a crop whose value it still cannot fully measure.

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