Assignment of Functions (Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development) Notice, 2026

Administration of thirty-nine Acts covering farming, livestock, marketing boards and water passes to the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, together with any functions conferred on that Minister by any Act except where assigned elsewhere.

The agricultural block includes the Agricultural Finance, Agricultural Marketing Authority, Agricultural Research, Farmers Licensing and Levy, Farmers Stop-order, Fertilizers Farm Feeds and Remedies, Fruit Marketing, Grain Marketing, Pig Industry, Plant Breeders Rights, Produce Export, Seeds, Sericulture, Tobacco Industry and Marketing, Tobacco Research and Warehouse Receipt Acts.

The animal and plant health block covers the Animal Health, Bees, Brands, Dairy, Locust Control, Plant Pests and Diseases, Quelea Control, Registration of Pedigree Farm Livestock, Scientific Experiments on Animals, Stock Trespass and Veterinary Surgeons Acts.

Water is the third block: the Water Act, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Act, and the Zambezi River Authority Act, the last jointly administered with the Minister of Energy and Power Development. The Produce Export Act is jointly administered with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Nothing in the substance of these laws changes — this reassigns who administers them. As with the companion notice, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority Act is described as jointly administered with the very Minister it is assigned to, which appears to be a drafting error.

A second notice bearing the same title and the same gazette date of 4 June 2026 assigns a separate schedule of ten land Acts to the same Minister and also repeals SI 203 of 2023. Neither refers to the other, so whether they are one assignment split across two instruments, or one superseding the other, is not stated.