His Excellency, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa says his government has deliberately adopted strategies to ensure the development of the country.

He said this during his official commissioning of Cut Rag Tobacco Processing Plant in Harare, this Wednesday.

The processing plant comes at a time when tobacco production in Zimbabwe has surpassed the 300 million kilogramme mark.

Speaking during the commissioning, President Mnangagwa said the adoption of technology has seen the increase in production output.

“My Government adopted the National Artificial intelligence strategy to support e-commerce. Our holistic approach will ensure that the industry will be supported by digital infrastructure through the internet of things, big data and analytics,” he said.

“Industrialist must be guided by our national interests. In our respective business and Government strategies across all sectors let us be guided by our principle and national philosophy, "Nyika Inovakwa nevene vayo igonamatirwa nevene vayo". I want to congratulate the management and stakeholders especially those in the tobacco industry.

“It is most opportune that this development is occurring following our country's unprecedented successes in the agriculture sector. This has seen tobacco production reaching an extraordinary record of 355 million kilogrammes in 2025, valued at US $1.2 billion.

“To bolster this thrust the National Development Strategy 2 will soon be launched as yet another building block to our country's continuing economic growth and transform agenda. This will be augmented by the Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy 2 , designed to accelerate industrialisation and modernisation while also aiding the diversification of domestic production and productivity.”