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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 35560, member: 636"] Farmers across Zimbabwe have begun planting wheat as summer crop harvests finish up. The nation wants to grow 600,000 tonnes of wheat this season. Early planters hope to use the full winter growing window for timely harvests before rains start. Some farmers face problems finding equipment for field preparation. The Agricultural Finance Corporation and the Agricultural Rural Development Authority offer tillage services, but cannot meet all farmers' needs. Electric companies promised steady power for irrigation systems. Input suppliers have seeds, fertilizers, and chemicals ready. Late payments from the Grain Marketing Board limit some farmers' ability to buy supplies. Zimbabwe National Farmers Union leader Monica Chinamasa said recent Easter rains helped speed up field preparations. The government plans to reach its production target through expanding wheat fields to 120,000 hectares and raising yields to 5 tonnes per hectare. Officials want enough wheat for local needs, exports, and a reserve of 250,000 tonnes. Last year, Zimbabwe harvested a record 563,961 tonnes of wheat, beating the previous record of 467,000 tonnes. This marked the third straight year of wheat self-sufficiency. The country once imported most of its wheat, but government and private sector efforts changed that situation. Past wheat-growing challenges included power outages, high costs, and a lack of funding from banks that saw wheat as risky. The current administration aims to boost wheat production under several national development plans to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030. [/QUOTE]

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