Rainfall levels decrease as season nears end

Source: Rainfall levels decrease as season nears end  | The Herald

Sifelani Tsiko

Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor

Rainfall amounts have decreased significantly over the past month with slight chances of measurable showers to be received in some parts of the country in the coming weeks, the Meteorological Services Department said in an update.

“Most of the areas across the country have not received rains in the past month. A few pockets have received some rainfall totals though they have been below 30 mm. As a result, there has not been any significant changes in the accumulated rainfall in many areas,” the Met Department said.

“The majority of the country is within the above normal category in terms of the received precipitation. This area is mostly in the southern and western parts. The north-eastern areas have received rains within the normal category.”

Benjamin Kwenda, an agriculture meteorologist at the MSD told the Herald yesterday that the 2020–2021 rainfall season was coming to a close and the country was unlikely to receive major rains that could have a significant impact on cropping.

“We are almost at the tail end of the 2020 – 2021 rainfall season although we may get some few rains here and there,” he said. “We may get some rains from April 11 to 14 but this will not impact much on cropping. The season was quite good and most crops have reached maturity even though some areas experienced water-logging and leaching.”

The Meteorological Services Department was now in the process of compiling a 2020 – 2021 rainfall summary report.

Over the past week, some parts of the country received some showers.

The amounts were generally low with most of the areas recording a weekly total below 10mm.

The highest falls were recorded at Kotwa in Mudzi district followed by Karoi, Kezi and Chivhu where the amounts were all between 20 and 30 mm.

Good rains in the 2020-2021 cropping season, which were in the normal to above normal category have brought hope and cheer to farmers who endured one of the worst droughts in years in the previous season.

The country is expecting a bumper crop this season that will improve the food security position in most households.

The Government expects this year’s maize harvest to be as high as 2,8 million tonnes, a huge jump from the 908 000 tonnes of maize harvested last year.

Zimbabwe’s national dam levels also registered a massive rise this season, the second highest in more than five decades after heavy rains were received in most parts of the country during the current summer season, according to the latest update from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA).