Wakulima wanapanda miche msimu wa mvua shambani.

Wakulima means “farmers.”

• wa- is the plural subject prefix for noun class 2 (“they”).
• -kulima is the verb stem “to cultivate/farm,” turned here into an agent noun.
  Its singular form is Mkulima (class 1), with m- as the singular prefix.

wanapanda means “(they) plant” (present habitual/continuous). It is built from:

• wa- (subject prefix for class 2, “they”)
• -na- (present tense marker, indicating current or habitual action)
• -panda (verb stem “to plant”)
  So: wa
  • na
    • panda → wanapanda.

miche means “seedlings.”

• It is the plural of mche (“seedling”).
• mche belongs to noun class 3 (singular prefix m-), whose plural class is class 4 with prefix mi-.
  Thus mche → mi
  • che = miche.

Swahili does not use separate words for “the” or “a.” Definiteness and indefiniteness are understood from context.

• Wakulima can mean “(the) farmers” or “farmers” generally.
• miche is simply “seedlings” without an article.

msimu wa mvua means “the rainy season” (literally, “season of rain”).

• msimu (“season”) is noun class 3 (singular prefix m-).
• mvua (“rain”) is class 9.
  The genitive concord for class 3 is -a, but because mvua is class 9, we insert w- before -a, yielding wa.
  Hence: msimu
  • wa
    • mvua.

shambani means “on/in the farm.”

• The base noun is shamba (“farm”).
• The suffix -ni turns many nouns into a locative form, indicating location: shamba
  • -ni = shambani.

Yes.

• wanapanda (wa-na-panda) focuses on an action happening now or generally.
• hupanda (hu-panda) uses hu-, the habitual marker for class 2, emphasizing “they habitually/usually plant.”
  So
  • Wakulima wanapanda… = “Farmers are planting…/Farmers plant (right now).”
  • Wakulima hupanda… = “Farmers habitually plant…”