The Meteorological Service Department (MSD) yesterday said
while its seasonal projections points to normal to above normal rains, some
areas in the country have received below normal rains but that does not change
the seasonal indicators.
It said the country should receive improved rainfall this
week.
At the end of August, MSD projected that the 2021/22 rainy season
will be characterised by good rains.
But the rains have not been coming in some parts of the
country while the hot weather conditions have persisted.
The hot weather conditions have seen some crops suffering
from moisture stress and some farmers who had already planted may be forced to
replant.
Most farmers are anticipating a good farming season as was
recorded in the previous season which saw the country recording a bumper
harvest.
Government has already started distributing inputs to
ensure that farmers adequately prepare for the planting season.
The normal to above normal seasonal projections, has seen
Government activating its disaster response mechanism to avert rain related
disasters.
The Civil Protection Unit (CPU) recently revealed that it
requires US$100 million to adequately prepare for rain related disasters.
MSD divided its season forecast into two halves: the
October to December and the January and March period.
In an interview yesterday, MSD Agro Meteorologist in charge
of season forecast Mr Benjamin Kwenda, said nothing has changed in terms of
their seasonal forecast despite little rains being received so far.
“Our projections have not changed and at the moment we are
monitoring the situation until at the end of the three months which marks the
end of the first half of the season.
We cannot do a review before the end of the three months.
So, we will do an update at the end of the three months but when we did an
update last week, there was no change to the indicators,” said Mr Kwenda.
“We still have indicators that we are likely to get heavy
rains that are short. And we could be headed for some kind of disasters within
the time that remains until the end of December.
But at the moment we have not reached a point where we can
say we can make that proper assessment of the three months because as long as
we are still within the three months anything can happen.”
He said the country in the 2019/20 recorded a similar
situation where rains seemed not to come until it was hit by a devastating
Cyclone Idai.
“A good example of what is happening is in the 2019/20
season when we experienced Cyclone Idai. We had a situation which is almost
similar to what we are having now (little rains).
But when the cyclone came it changed everything that we had
initially predicted is what actually transpired.
Because it happened in a four-day period it was disastrous.
So, we still have the possibility of that happening. So, we
will still track until we get to the end of the month and when we get to the
end of the month, we will then make an assessment on what could have actually
happened that changed everything else,” he said.
Mr Kwenda said areas such as Beitbridge among other areas
have received significant rains.
“Our projection was saying normal to above normal so we
still have quite a number of areas that are still below normal and we have the
areas that have the normal to above normal category.
Basing on our last report, areas around Beitbridge have
received slightly above normal rains but we still have some places which have
received below normal rains in contradiction to the season projections,” said
Mr Kwenda.
He said the country should expect improved rainfall this
week and conditions are still favouring a good rainy season.
“That is very true. We are expecting some rains in some
places from tomorrow (today) but in other areas from Tuesday going into the
week.
So, we expect them to be quite significant and from around
Wednesday they should cover the whole country. We are definitely still
expecting some significant rains.
Even when we are looking at the other indicators,
everything else has developed into conditions where we are expecting La-Nina
conditions and La-Nina bring favourable conditions for us.
So, we are still in a La-Nina season,” he said. Chronicle
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