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Every Farm Build article, across all four pillars.
A cyclone alert about a storm near the Seychelles is doing the rounds on WhatsApp. The storm is real, but it is heading for East Africa, not Zimbabwe. Here's what the official forecasters say, what the alert got wrong, and which cyclones Zimbabwean farmers do need to watch this season.
Zimbabwe's irrigation companies aren't interchangeable. Here's which ones handle drip kits, overhead systems, centre pivots, boreholes and pipe, what each job roughly costs, and what to ask before you pay a deposit.
A big 2026 harvest is running into a dry 2027 forecast, and grain prices are set to rise. Here's what the market signals mean for what you plant, and a plan for communal farmers, small commercial growers, irrigators and livestock keepers.
Every major institution agrees a drier season is coming. They don't agree on everything else, from how far to trust the forecast to how much maize to plant. Here's who is advising what, and where their advice differs.
A standard fixed-dome biogas digester in Zimbabwe costs US$600-800 and needs several head of cattle to run daily, but a newer drum-based design has cut that entry cost to around US$250.
Zimbabwean field trials show conservation agriculture adds real yield on sandy soils, but the size of the gain depends heavily on rainfall zone, tillage method and whether mulch is used at all.
Drone crop monitoring and spraying have moved from pilot projects to working services in Zimbabwe, but the economics only make sense once you know what locally built hardware actually costs versus imported kit.
Veld protein can fall below 3% in the dry months, so communal herds need a deliberate feeding plan built on stored crop residues and legume forage, not just hope for early rains.
Zimbabwe's biggest agricultural technology platform by user numbers isn't an app at all — it runs over basic SMS, and that's exactly why it reached farmers that app-based tools never will.
Global fertiliser prices are climbing toward a 30%+ jump in 2026, and Zimbabwe's import bill and coal-to-fertiliser gamble mean local farmers won't be shielded from it.
On-station trials show groundnut-maize rotation can nearly double unfertilised maize yields, but Zimbabwean smallholder data shows the real-world gain is far smaller once labour and market prices are counted.
A 49-year climate and crop-simulation study of Hwedza district found the second dekad of November consistently outperforms the late-November planting most surveyed farmers actually chose.
The cheapest roofing sheet per square metre isn't always the cheapest roof once you price in the pole frame it needs to carry it.
Building width and orientation to prevailing wind, not shed size, are what decide whether a Zimbabwean poultry house stays cool enough to keep birds alive in October.
FAO's tropical housing tables and two working Zimbabwean pigsty builds land in the same range — roughly 1 to 2.3 square metres per pig separates a healthy pen from an overcrowded one.
The equipment deficit and unbankable land titles that separate small-scale from commercial farming in Zimbabwe are being addressed, but not fast enough to change this season's economics.
A one-hectare solar pump kit runs roughly US$4,500 up front, but the income gains it unlocks — and the years it takes to pay back — depend heavily on farm size and how the system is sized.
Two real Zimbabwean pigsty builds — one for 60 pigs, one for 1,000 — show that roofing and cement, not bricks, are where the budget actually gets stretched.
Mbare Musika, the GMB and EU export contracts each pay differently and want different things from you — knowing which channel fits your crop and volume matters more than chasing the highest headline price.