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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
The Meteorological Services Department will issue the weather forecast at the end of this month once the ongoing Sadc Climate Outlook Forum ends, including consultations with other local climate experts.

This was said by the Met Department director Dr Amos Makarau at the annual Agricultural Business Forum at the ongoing Harare Agricultural Show yesterday.

“As we are speaking right now, our experts are coming up with a position for the region and within the next two to three days there will be a forecast for Sadc,” he said.

“Over the weekend when our experts come we are going to be working on our forecasts for Zimbabwe and we hope to issue that on the 30th of this month. We are going to announce on the 30th but on the 29th we would be meeting with various experts and for the first time we would also be using indigenous knowledge systems on weather patterns.”

Most parts of Zimbabwe received normal to above normal rains last summer resulting in the country having a bumper harvest. Other countries in the Sadc region also received normal to above-normal rainfall, bringing relief to this region which relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture.

The bulk of Sadc received normal to above-normal rainfall for most of the period October to December 2016 and January to March 2017, while northernmost Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Angola, southernmost Tanzania, northern Mozambique, the islands states of Seychelles and eastern-most Madagascar got normal to below-normal rainfall most of the season.

In the 2015-16 period, Sadc member states declared the El Nino-induced drought a regional disaster, paving the way for donor aid more than US$2,8 billion for food aid for millions of people facing hunger.