It was doing fine as Zimbabwe also, but when Mugabe took power 20 years ago or so he confiscated all the big farms and turned them over to friends. They did NOT know how to run a farm and they didn't have the business contacts or credit to buy seed and equipment. Went from a food exporter to a food importer in a very short time.
(edited typo. Need to find that telepathic keyboard that knows when I meant to add "NOT")