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Lynn Munjanja and Nesia Mhaka, Harare Bureau

ZIMBABWE will receive normal rains with a bias towards below normal throughout the 2019/20 season, Government has said.

Presenting at the Inter Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Change, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minster Perrance Shiri said the seasonal rainfall forecast October to December 2019 Harare, much of Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland, most parts of Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, North eastern part of Midlands would be “normal and biased to above normal” rains. “Masvingo and the extreme southern parts of Manicaland and bulk of Matabeleland South will expect normal to the biased below normal rainfall. From January to March 2020 all areas should expect normal rainfall to below normal,” he said.

Weather experts had met in Harare for the National Outlook Climate Forum (Narcof) workshop with the Meteorological Services Department and were expected to release the 2019/2020 national rainfall forecast on Wednesday this week. The 2019/20 Narcof comes after Sadc member states met last week in Angola for the 2019/20 seasonal climate outlook for the region.

The seasonal rainfall forecast informs the nation about the rainfall expected in different agro-ecological regions and will help farmers to make informed decisions.

The forecast is useful for disaster preparedness and management, agriculture and food security, water and energy and health sectors. Farmers have already begun preparing for the 2019/2020 summer cropping season with others having already bought inputs such as seed and fertilisers. Last year, the country experienced erratic rains during the beginning of the rainfall season and was later affected by Cyclone Idai-induced floods that killed hundreds of people and destroyed infrastructure.