22 Sep 2016

Normal rainfall is expected in the 2016/17 rainfall season compared to the past season.

The rainfall forecast for the upcoming season was revealed by Mr John Stegling of the Department of Meteorology Services at Mosi Farms in Barolong Farms recently during a kgotla meeting.

Mr Stegling said during the months of October, November and December, most parts of the country would receive normal to above normal rains, and advised farmers to prepare for the ploughing season.

He said they were expecting a La Nina phenomenon rather than the El Nino which occurred in recent years. He said the south western region was the only area expected to receive normal to below normal rain during the period.

Mr Stegling further noted that seasons had changed due to climate change as rainfall started mid or late November unlike in the past where it rained in early October.

He said during October, November and December the country was forecast to receive normal rains with the whole country expected to receive normal to above normal rain.

However, he said the North East and Central districts were the only areas expected to receive normal with a likelihood of below normal rains, adding that it did not mean there would be no rain, but rather that it would rain minimally.

He said the harsh conditions have brought challenges with seasons shifting as the country experienced a mild winter that became very cold end of July, hence pushing rainfall to start late in November.

He said the only way to survive climate change was to reduce greenhouse emissions, adding that  extreme weather conditions occurred because of climate change.

However, he said climate change has affected some areas positively, giving the example of Kgalagadi and Ghanzi, which he said had shown a rise in rainfall amounts over the past years.

Mr Stegling said the hot temperatures experienced in 2016 were the main contributing factors to evaporation due to El Nino conditions. He added that floods should not be ruled out this season due to the fact that some areas were expecting above normal rainfall.

However, he said people should not be worried about the dry spell that would occur in some parts of the country, as they were needed in farming as long as they were not prolonged.

Residents were happy to hear the good news, but were worried that they might experience floods and heavy winds.

Earlier on, the headman of arbitration, Mr Eric Morolong said most of them were farmers, but that the road leading to their farms were impassable. He said trucks for business people fail to reach them to buy their products from the farms.

He applauded the government for the agricultural programmes that had lifted their lives. Ends