Zimbabwe has started checking how well crops, animals, and fish are doing this year. Farmers planted more food crops than before, which meant more food for everyone. The country enjoyed good rains during the 2024-2025 growing season, which helped plants grow strong and healthy. Experts say Zimbabwe will harvest plenty of food soon.
Farm helpers are visiting 1,600 areas around the country to look at plants and animals. They began collecting facts last week after learning how to use special tools in March. Mr. Leonard Munamati from the farm advice office said we'll see the full report next week. He smiled when he said the crops look very good across all areas. The rain made everything grow well this year.
Most corn plants have reached their final growing stage. Early planted corn is already hard and ready. Some farmers started picking their corn, but newer plants still need time to finish growing. Farmers planted 5.4 percent more corn fields compared to last year. Zimbabwe needs 2.2 million tons of corn each year: 1.8 million for people to eat and 400,000 for animal feed.
Tobacco farmers are busy cutting and drying their leaves. They earned $143.3 million from selling 41.6 million kilograms of tobacco. This amount seems smaller than last year, when they sold 56.7 million kilograms worth $200.4 million. The average price stands at $3.43 per kilogram this year, slightly less than before. Fruit and vegetable growing increased just a tiny bit from 11,952 to 11,957 hectares.
The animal raising part of farming did better than expected. Beef cattle numbers grew from 5,718,523 to 5,741,397 this year. Dairy cow numbers jumped up by 8.7 percent, making raw milk go up by 15 percent. The government wants more fish farming and has given away over 2 million baby fish across the country. Sadly, last year's dry spell hurt fish production overall.
The government runs eight big farm help programs for rural areas. Their special seed program reached 3.5 million homes. The chicken program gave out 751,408 local chicks to families. Dr. Anxious Masuka, the farming boss, talked about dealing with changing weather patterns. He said they made plans to help make rain when needed. They also want to water more land - going from 217,000 hectares to 496,000 hectares with help from businesses.
Farm helpers are visiting 1,600 areas around the country to look at plants and animals. They began collecting facts last week after learning how to use special tools in March. Mr. Leonard Munamati from the farm advice office said we'll see the full report next week. He smiled when he said the crops look very good across all areas. The rain made everything grow well this year.
Most corn plants have reached their final growing stage. Early planted corn is already hard and ready. Some farmers started picking their corn, but newer plants still need time to finish growing. Farmers planted 5.4 percent more corn fields compared to last year. Zimbabwe needs 2.2 million tons of corn each year: 1.8 million for people to eat and 400,000 for animal feed.
Tobacco farmers are busy cutting and drying their leaves. They earned $143.3 million from selling 41.6 million kilograms of tobacco. This amount seems smaller than last year, when they sold 56.7 million kilograms worth $200.4 million. The average price stands at $3.43 per kilogram this year, slightly less than before. Fruit and vegetable growing increased just a tiny bit from 11,952 to 11,957 hectares.
The animal raising part of farming did better than expected. Beef cattle numbers grew from 5,718,523 to 5,741,397 this year. Dairy cow numbers jumped up by 8.7 percent, making raw milk go up by 15 percent. The government wants more fish farming and has given away over 2 million baby fish across the country. Sadly, last year's dry spell hurt fish production overall.
The government runs eight big farm help programs for rural areas. Their special seed program reached 3.5 million homes. The chicken program gave out 751,408 local chicks to families. Dr. Anxious Masuka, the farming boss, talked about dealing with changing weather patterns. He said they made plans to help make rain when needed. They also want to water more land - going from 217,000 hectares to 496,000 hectares with help from businesses.
