Zimbabwe Leather Development Council lobbies for Government contracts

The Zimbabwe Leather Development Council (ZLDC) is lobbying policymakers to open up public procurement contracts to local leather manufacturers, arguing that Government contracts are essential to reviving the country’s struggling leather value chain.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference and Expo (ZICE 2026), last week in Harare, ZLDC secretary Mr Jacob Nyathi called on the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to facilitate access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and manufacturing clusters to supply leather goods to State institutions, particularly the security services sector.

Mr Nyathi highlighted Government agencies — specifically the military, police, and security services — as a crucial starting point for demand creation.

“We are appealing to policymakers, particularly through our Minister of Industry and Commerce (Mangaliso Ndlovu), that they facilitate that small manufacturers, SMEs, and clusters are given a chance to supply the security service sector with patrol boots, army boots, police safety shoes and many other leather products,” Mr Nyathi said.

He added that the broader objective is for all Government agencies to prioritise local leather manufacturing in their procurement processes to stimulate domestic production.

The appeal comes at a time when local bovine and hide processors are operating well below capacity.

According to ZLDC figures, capacity utilisation among general manufacturers sits below 40 percent, with some smaller producers operating at 20 to 30 percent.

In contrast, specialised niche producers — such as tanneries processing exotic skins including elephant, crocodile, and buffalo — are running at significantly higher capacity levels and generating substantial export revenues.

Mr Nyathi outlined structural challenges earlier in the value chain that hinder local production quality.

Poor animal husbandry practices at the farm level continue to degrade the initial quality of raw hides and skins.

The ZLDC is calling on the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development to intervene with targeted education programmes for smallholder farmers.

“We would like to see the Ministry of Agriculture focusing more on ensuring animal husbandry is improved and smallholder farmers are taught to look at livestock farming as a business so that they can produce quality hides,” Mr Nyathi said.

Mr Nyathi also pointed to a major missed economic opportunity in the local sector regarding goat skin processing.

Despite Zimbabwe holding a national herd of 4,5 million goats and recording high slaughter rates, most skins currently go completely unprocessed.

“When we compare with other countries, that is a quality skin that can actually give us a lot of export opportunities,” Mr Nyathi said, calling for coordinated investment to process raw skins into value-added leather goods for regional and global markets.

The Zimbabwe leather sector spans seven key nodes: livestock farmers, hide merchants, abattoirs, tanneries, large manufacturers, small or cluster manufacturers, and research institutions coordinated by the Leather Institute of Zimbabwe.

Mr Nyathi maintains that guaranteed State procurement combined with farm-level quality control could catalyse widespread recovery across the entire value chain.

Zimbabwe’s leather value chain development framework is guided by the Zimbabwe Leather Sector Strategy (2021–2030) and regionally by the SADC Regional Leather Value Chain Model Policy Framework.

These frameworks focus on driving value addition, boosting manufacturing capacity and increasing cross-border trade.

Zimbabwe Leather Sector Strategy guides domestic production, quality upgrades and technical training through ZLDC.

In terms of value addition, the strategy targets the revitalisation of the livestock-to-leather pipeline, moving away from exporting raw hides toward local tanning and finished footwear.

Endorsed in 2023, the SADC Regional Leather Value Chain Model Policy Framework helps member states harmonise regulations and lower trade barriers.