It’s my understanding that Zimbabwe killed or removed all of the actual (white) farmers and replaced them with black ignoramuses who know nothing (why does Maxine Waters pop into my mind) about farming. Is it possible that this might have an impact on the farming? Nah. It has to be “climate change.” You can’t blame socialism or the black racial hatred for whites or total incompetence of the blacks who run the country because that would show the emperor’s new clothes were really not there.
The farm operations, prior to Mugabe, were what you’d consider medium-sized operations, with some limited automation (tractors), and a large amount of physical labor. One of the curious things is that the medium sized farms, after Mugabe did his ‘trick’...no longer existed, and they were split into basic two-acre farms, where the former soldier was given his ‘reward’. He would grow just enough food for himself and his family, and that was it. So production level to feed Zimbabwe cities and the whole of Africa (that was their capability) dissolved in a matter of just two to three years. Curiously, if you go 1920s Soviet Union, they dissolved the medium sized farms by 1930, sending off the private farmers, and those properties left over....were no longer able to feed cities or regions as well. Exact copy.
Mugabe also dissolved the tourist trade. There were several major airlines which ran direct flights down to the country weekly. Mugabe and his entourage started to show up at the airports, and demand that the passenger jet ready for the 180-odd passengers to return to Europe....be reset for him and his entourage for a trip to France, or Italy. The VIP passengers/tourists? They would be rerouted, and instead of a 12-hour flight back to Europe....they ended up on a 36-hour route to return home. Tourists within a five year period made up their mind....deciding not to return, and the international airlines basically quit Zimbabwe.
Step by step, Mugabe dissolved the country.