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Charity Ruzvidzo Chronicle Reporter
THE Meteorological Services Department yesterday said it is too early to make a conclusion on the prospect of drought in parts of the country arguing that the rainy season officially ends first week of April.

Responding to widespread fears of a possible drought raised by farmers in southern parts of the country as some crops wilt, the country’s sole weather information source urged patience.

“There are several definitions of drought. As for the meteorological drought, it’s a bit early as the rainfall season officially ends in the first week of April,” said the Met Department in an e-mailed response to questions from Chronicle.

“Agricultural droughts are a function of several factors, suitability of crops, soil types, climate, availability of inputs, farming practices. It’s complex.”

Panic has gripped some communities in parts of Matabeleland North and South provinces and Masvingo over what they see as looming food shortages as the dry spell persists.

The Met department said it was not in a position to answer some of the questions about the risk of an agricultural drought saying that was the prerogative of the Agritex department.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister, Joseph Made said an Agritex team would soon be on the ground carrying out a rapid assessment, which will bring out the real situation ward by ward.

He also said it was too early to speculate or talk of figures yet.

“Even though we’ve not started the crop assessment, I can confirm that the southern parts of the country have been heavily affected by the dry spell.

“Maize and small grains in south of Manicaland, Mashonaland East, southern parts of Midlands, Masvingo and Matabeleland South have been affected,” he said.

“We don’t want to start speculating on figures. We want to do a proper assessment of the situation then we will come up with the correct figures,” he said.

The minister said the dry spell had not only affected Zimbabwe but had affected most parts of the Sadc region too.

“We need to intensify irrigation. We should put efforts into irrigation development,” he said.

The Met department is still awaiting funds from Treasury to conduct cloud seeding, midway through the season.

“The Ministry of Finance in their 2015 budget had allocated $400,000 towards national cloud seeding operations. Cognisant of the prevailing economic conditions, the Meteorological Services Department continues to engage the relevant authorities about the issue,” said the department.

It, however, noted that current weather conditions especially over the southern half of the country were not suitable for cloud seeding.

On the forecast, the Met department said Manicaland, Masvingo, South of Midlands, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo would maintain a moist south-easterly airflow resulting in cloudy mornings and light drizzle starting yesterday.

Today, the weather conditions are expected to be mostly sunny and hot except in the north of Manicaland where cloudy weather with outbreaks of thunderstorms accompanied by damaging winds and hail is expected, it said.

“Matabeleland North is expected to be mostly sunny progressively from February 24 to 27, getting cloudy by the 28th to the end of the forecast period.

“Isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms that may be accompanied by damaging winds and hail are a distinct possibility. While overnight and mornings will be cool, afternoons should be warm with highs in excess of 30°C,” said the department.