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In past four years, the World Bank, in close cooperation with the Government of Zimbabwe, and the support of international partners - has carried out a number of studies and technical assistance activities in key areas of the socio-economic recovery. In line with Bank’s Africa strategy of fostering Africa’s economic transformation and poverty reduction, the overall goal of these studies has been to support broad-based development of Zimbabwe by facilitating evidence-based debate and policy-making. As a new government for 2013-2018 is about to take function, sectoral teams at the World Bank have distilled key analysis from those studies, and prepared the short policy notes. The policy notes attempt to summarize the main findings, challenges, constraints, and lay out policy options. While the past decade of hyperinflation and weak economic management has undoubtedly eroded a significant share of Zimbabwes physical and human capital, these can be rebuilt with the combination of sound economic policy and proper incentives to private sector investors, both domestic and foreign. It is therefore imperative that, however policymakers choose to proceed with regard to the future direction of the economy, they deliver well-articulated, credible, and stable economic policies. Such policies will enable and unleash the creative energies and entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector, the one that has delivered so often in the past. The policy note highlights the breadth and complexity of challenges in fostering long-term development. Addressing these challenges is a long haul task that will require a good sense of overarching priorities, as well as strong commitment to long-term objectives and policy consistency.

This chapter begins with a brief summary of economic growth and structural changes in the region since the 1950s and of agricultural and other economic policy developments as they affected the farm sector at the time of and in various stages after independence from colonial powers. The chapter then summarizes estimates of the nominal rate of assistance (NRA) and the relative rate of assistance (RRA) to farmers delivered by national farm and nonfarm policies over the past several decades, as well as the impact of these policies on the consumer prices of farm products, using the project's methodology (Anderson et al. 2008). The final sections point to what the author have learned and draw out implications of the findings, including for poverty and inequality and for possible future directions of policies affecting agricultural incentives in Africa.