Almond Orchard Management in Zimbabwe: Practices, Risks & Practical Solutions

No Zimbabwean source names almond cultivars, rootstocks or nurseries, and the Flora of Zimbabwe lists ten cultivated Prunus taxa, none of them almond. Commercial temperate fruit was concentrated in the eastern highlands at 1,400 to 1,950 m, with smaller areas east of Harare and in northern Mashonaland at about 1,500 m (a 1985 paper with 1981/82 sales data); a 2009 national report still places it mainly in the cool eastern highlands and lists apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines at the Horticulture Research Institute.

Chilling is the open question. At Marondera, at 1,630 m, a 1995 study gives a long-term average of only 417 hours a year at or below 7.2 °C, generally regarded as marginal for apples, though low-chill apple cultivars cropped heavily in its trials. The 1985 paper on highland temperate fruit names inadequate winter chilling among its climatic problems. Australian guidance lists 23 to 32 chill portions for almond cultivars, a different measure; no source computes almond chill for a Zimbabwean site.

In Australia almonds bloom from late July to early September, a grower reports, and a South African pollination study ran in August and September 1989. If bloom came that early in Zimbabwe, it could meet ground frost: in one report, the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) noted severe ground frost of -4 °C at Nyanga on 6 August 2025. Test cultivars on a small, level plot away from frost pockets, record chill, bloom and frost, and plan rows for machines before planting.

No Zimbabwean guidance on almond irrigation or nutrition was found. In the highlands rain falls mainly from October to April, with considerable local and seasonal variation, so temperate fruit needs supplementary irrigation or mulching, a 1985 paper notes. MSD normals give Marondera at most 10.1 mm of rain a month from May to September (1961 to 1990), and Australian guidance puts almond water needs at a minimum of 8.5 to 10 megaliters per hectare.

No Zimbabwean source on almond pests or diseases was found. EPPO lists bacterial spot (Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni) as present in Zimbabwe with a restricted distribution, on information dated 1986, gives American brown rot (Monilinia fructicola) as absent, an invalid record, and does not list the peach twig borer, which does not prove it is absent. University of California guidance says warm, rainy weather favors anthracnose.

Hailstorms are commonest in early summer and cause appreciable losses to temperate fruit in the highlands, the same paper notes, and University of California guidance says hulls are vulnerable to hull rot from hull split until they dry. For care work, the ID DAVID ECOFEED spreads solid manure, the ID DAVID LAT&GO string mower controls weeds without herbicides, the Mañez Lozano Narrow Twister S6 sprays tall, dense canopies and the ID DAVID V1 disc pruner makes vertical and horizontal cuts.

No Zimbabwean source describes an almond harvest or gives bloom or harvest months. In Australia, also in the southern hemisphere, the almond harvest usually runs from February to May (USDA, 2015), and New South Wales guidance places it in February, once the hulls have cracked. In orchards planted for machines on suitable ground, mechanized harvesting can bring the crop in on time, with less risk of nuts deteriorating while they wait.

No reliably hot, dry harvest season can be shown: by southern-hemisphere timing the harvest would fall in the rains, when Marondera averages 149.1 mm on 12 rain days in February and 90.3 mm on 9 in March, with a February mean maximum of 24.2 °C (MSD normals, 1961 to 1990). The Codex code prefers catching frames or sheets and asks that fallen nuts be removed as soon as possible, so this guide shows prompt pickup, with hulling and drying at once, beside catching frames.

Flory harvesting machinery is available in Zimbabwe through OVE Europe for both systems, for orchards planted for machines. On the ground, the VR700 Shaker, 34 Series Sweeper and 860 Harvester (or the smaller 490) work with the 1500 Conveyor Cart and ST14 Shuttle. Off the ground, the Flory COE C7 Shaker and L2 Receiver catch the almonds in a frame around the trunk, the Flory COE B8 Cart and VS25 Shuttle carry them, and the 4840 Field Elevator loads trailers in both systems.

No Zimbabwean source describes almond hulling, drying or storage. The Codex code of practice on aflatoxins in tree nuts, which covers almonds, advises hulling as soon as possible after harvest and drying hulled nuts to a water activity below 0.70 at 25 °C, and warns that nuts dried in the sun are at greater risk. Promptly picked or frame-caught almonds should therefore be hulled at once and dried off the ground before storage.

The Codex code also advises storage, if possible, below 70% relative humidity and at 0 to 10 °C, protected from rain, rodents and birds. No Zimbabwean almond standard was found, and sources report Zimbabwe's aflatoxin limits inconsistently; for almonds sold to consumers or used in food in the EU, Regulation (EU) 2023/915 sets 8.0 µg/kg of aflatoxin B1 and 10.0 µg/kg in total.

Zimbabwe imported more almonds than it exported in every year from 2015 to 2024, mainly from South Africa and Belgium; its only recorded export was 240 kg of shelled almonds in 2015 (UN Comtrade via WITS). Jessee, whose processing lines OVE Europe supplies, builds hulling, drying, in-shell cleaning and sizing, and shelling systems; its Airlegs nut cleaner was developed for the almond industry.

For general information only. Information may become outdated and does not replace site-specific professional advice. Consult a qualified agronomist and confirm equipment suitability with OVE before acting.