By Staff Reporter
CLIMATE experts from southern Africa are meeting in Harare to develop a rainfall forecast for the 2024/25 season with a focus on mitigating the impacts of climate change.
The drought, which started in early 2024, has hit crop and livestock production, causing food shortages and damaging the wider economies.
In a speech read on his behalf by Meteorological Services Department Zimbabwe director Rebecca Manzou at the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) 29 climate expertโs forum on Monday this week, World Meteorological Department director Prosper Matondi said the forum would generate innovative solutions and critical ideas to tackle climate change.
โThe forum enables us to collectively assess climate trends, develop informed projections and come up with a product that is crucial for planning purposes in various sectors of our economies,โ he said.
โThis process enables us to strengthen the models we are using and ensures that capacity building is continuous to cater for the changes in the environment.โ
Matondi said the forum focused on humanitarian anticipatory programmes that would reduce likely impacts of climate events before they occur.
โThe seasonal forecast as an important tool will not only guide our national plans for the agricultural season but also for other sectors such as the water management sector, the health sector, as well as the disaster management sector, among others,โ he said.
โFurther to this, it will also contribute to both regional and global efforts in humanitarian anticipatory action programming to reduce likely impacts from extreme climate events before they occur.
โIt is imperative that we come together as experts to review the performance of the past season and develop informed projections for the coming season.โ
Matondi acknowledged the challenges posed by the El Niรฑo-induced drought that affected many Sadc member States.
โThis has built confidence in us as users of your information and I would like to congratulate you for a job well done, although the consequences were not so pleasing,โ he said.
Matondi called on Sadc members to engage to embrace issues that affect climate change and the mitigation method.
โI urge each of you as Sadc member States to actively engage in the discussions, share your insights and experiences on the work ahead of you, and forge partnerships that transcend borders, as weather knows no boundaries,โ he said.
โBy leveraging our collective knowledge and experiences, we can come up with an improved forecast product that will be acceptable to all sectors that use our products in our different states.โ
In her own speech, Manzou said the move to discuss climatic changes would enhance farmersโ ability to plan ahead.
โI hope this meeting will embrace farmers so that they will plan ahead in terms of farming methods. As they will know that if there is not enough rain, they will have to use irrigation.
โThis innovative forum meeting will go a long way in planning ahead of the 2025 season and getting rid of the El Niรฑo disaster impact,โ she said.
Manzou also called on farmers to consult Agritex offices during El Niรฑo disasters.
โIt is important for farmers to engage with Agritex officers in order to be guided on which crops to grow, because sometimes, as farmers, you may not know what tomorrow might be. So sometimes following instructions can improve yields,โ she said.
