Normal rainfall season forecast

Most parts of Southern Africa will receive normal to above normal rainfall in the 2016/2017 farming season while the southern parts of the region will receive normal to below normal rainfall, weather experts have said. The experts, who are attending the Southern Regional Climate Outlook Forum in Harare, said the bulk of the region was expected to receive normal to above normal rainfall during the first part of the season from October to December.

However, northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) northern Angola, southern Tanzania, northern Mozambique, the islands states of Seychelles and eastern-most Madagascar are most likely to receive normal to below normal rainfall.

The period between October and March is the main rainfall season for most of Southern Africa. Meteorological Services Department director Dr Amos Makarau, said the local weather forecast would be issued in due course.

"This is a forecast not for individual countries. For Zimbabwe, we will issue a national forecast," he said. Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri who accepted the Final 2016/2017 Weather Output Report on the behalf of the participants, said the devastating El Nino episode that disrupted the economies of SADC in the 2015 -16 season was a clear wakeup call that Governments should not take forecasts for granted.

"I would like to commend you all for having your meetings in August. This gives us reasonable lead time to prepare for the forthcoming rainfall season. In the case of Zimbabwe, the summer agriculture season is in six weeks.

"We have to procure farming inputs and avail to our farmers by the end of September, stock medicines to combat malaria by November, purchase adequate stocks of drugs for our livestock as well as plan for disasters by December," she said.

Minister Muchinguri implored the SADC secretariat to play a more prominent role in the SARCOF process, mobilising resources on time in order to capacitate the Climate Services Centre.

She said the responsibility cannot be left to donors and national meteorological services alone adding that Agriculture was the mainstay of most economies in SADC which were highly prone to climate change and dwindling fresh water resources and increased incidences of health challenges.

"It is more costly to react than to be prepared. If a drought occurs, development is stifled, it stagnates and even retrogresses because finances are diverted to importing food. The net effect is also the same when floods occur.

"All of us are anxiously eager to know the outlook for the 2016-17 summer rainfall season as well as its implications. This is vital for our planning. We may or not like what the forecast says, but as long as it is based on science, integrity and professionalism, we should in our planning take hid, respect it and take appropriation action," she said.