Country Context
Administrative/Reporting Units
Communal lands all fall within a district, but are not truly a level 4 admin unit (Province, District, Ward). They are more of a "sector", but have definite geographic boundaries.
Crop Data
Context
Communal data from 1980-2000 was digitized from ward and district records by FEWS NET with agreement of Agritex. Other production data are government-reported estimates.
Large-scale commercial farm production, especially of wheat, maize, tobacco and cotton is not generally counted in the estimates shown here.
Note that the 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.
Small-scale commercial farms and other "schemes", 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.
During the 2001-2007 period of extreme land ownership disruption, ag stats were generally not produced, or if they were, often not published
Main season is between November Y-1 and April Y. The winter cropping season usually begins in May, finishing in September. Wheat is an important commercial crop, and is not included in the estimates here.
"Year" is year of harvest, in April