Zimbabwe Data Book

Last update: August 15, 2024

This page contains information about some of the data available in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE) for Zimbabwe. This is not a comprehensive guide.

For information about using the filters and fields for specific domains in the FDE, see Choose a Data Domain.

Summary table

Country food security context

The two-letter country code for Zimbabwe is ZW.

The code for the neighboring country, South Africa, is ZA.

The country code for Zambia is ZM.

Statistical reporting units

The administrative hierarchy is generally used as the principal statistical reporting unit. Nevertheless, a significant portion of the country’s crop production is only reported at the sectoral level.

Administrative (admin) units are the geographical areas into which a country is divided. FEWS NET uses the following terminology: National boundary = admin 0, First sub-national division = admin 1 (e.g., states in the United States), Second sub-national division = admin 2 (e.g., counties in the United States), and so on.

Admin 1: Province. Zimbabwe has 8 provinces, although Harare and Bulawayo are often included as well.

Admin 2: District. Zimbabwe has ~56-90 districts, depending upon the definition used. 

Admin 3: Ward. Zimbabwe has >1,500 wards. 

Other admin units: Communal lands/areas are key statistical reporting units with definite boundaries. They are often comprised of multiple wards, but always fall within a single district. In a few cases, an entire district is comprised of communal lands (e.g. UMP, Nkayi). Communal lands are not an admin 4 unit. They are an administrative structure that co-exists with wards and districts. They are represented in crop estimates both as a sector and as administrative/geographic units.

Crop data

Explore our crop data.

View our documentation on using the Crop Domain.

Crop estimate data sources

Communal data from 1980-2000 was digitized from ward and district records by FEWS NET through an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture’s AGRITEX service. Other production data are government-sanctioned estimates.

During the 2001-2007 period of extreme land ownership disruption, agricultural statistics were generally not produced, or if they were, often not published.

In recent years, provincial, admin 1-level crop reporting has become the norm.

Yearly crop reporting used to be found on the national statistical office website, but that site has been less of a source for more recent agricultural statistics.

Agricultural sectors

Principle agricultural sectors in Zimbabwe include:

• Large-scale commercial (LSC), a sector formerly dominated by a large proportion of “white” Zimbabwean farmers. In the late 1990s, this sector counted approximately 4,100 farms, found mostly in agro-ecological zones 1, 2 and 3. Often possessing large irrigation infrastructure, the sector is the principal source of wheat for the country, and a major source of maize, cotton, coffee and tea. Some commercial forms, especially in agro-ecological zones 3, 4, and 5 specialize in ranching, and include conservancies for the protection of “exotic” animals.

Large-scale commercial farm production, especially of wheat, maize, tobacco, cotton, coffee, and tea is reported at the national level by sector and is not included in the estimates found in the FEWS NET database.

• Small-scale commercial farms (SSC) have a commercial focus in their crop production but include farms of a lesser size or infrastructure. SSCs and other "schemes" were introduced under various legislation in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They are becoming more important producers in some districts, but are still a small contributor to the country's production.

• Communal lands/areas (CA/CL), numbering approximately 150, are most often found in the drier agro-ecological zones (4 and 5). They are governed, in part, by traditional authorities, and subsistence farming is most often the principal focus of farms in this sector. For most crops, except wheat, sorghum, tobacco, cotton, coffee, and tea, grown principally in a LSC setting, communal areas often produce the largest shares of the country’s maize and other food crops. Communal land estimates add up to a district-level total which, in most cases, will comprise >80-90% of the district's total production in any year. Exceptions include the highland areas of Mashonaland West and Central, where large commercial farms were/are still found, and a few other districts.  

• Peri-Urban production is sometimes reported, most of which originates in Harare and its environs, and Bulawayo.   

• Multiple other farming sector types (“OR”, “A1”, “A2”), introduced under various legislation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, are becoming more important producers in some districts, but are still a small contributor to the country's production.

Year and season definition

The main season is between November and April (e.g., November 2023 to April 2024).

The winter cropping season usually begins in May and finishes in September.

The Year corresponds to the year of harvest, in April, and is often denoted as YYYY=XXXX/YYYY, e.g., a two-year notation of the harvest of April 2021 is 2020/2021.

Example: The 2018/2019 cropping year may be described as 2019.

Methodology

Crop estimates are made at the district and communal land level by local agricultural authorities. They are passed up the hierarchy of administrative units to the provincial and then national levels where they are approved. 

Normally, two rounds of assessment are completed for the Main season, with the second-round estimates published in the April-May period.

Sectoral estimates for the LSC, SSC, and other sectors, especially for coffee, tea, tobacco, and cotton are often completed by farmer associations in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and other government authorities.