THE Zambia Meteorological Department has advised farmers in Copperbelt, North-Western, Western, Southern, Lusaka, Central and Eastern Provinces to consider planting drought-tolerant crops.
On the other hand, MET has advised farmers in Luapula, Northern and Muchinga Provinces, as well as the northern parts of North-Western Province, to continue planting and scout for pests such as army worms.
In its Weekly Weather Bulletin for the period 3rd to 9th December 2024, MET indicated that there was more than 80 percent chance of recording rainfall exceeding 25mm over parts of Luapula, Northern and Muchinga provinces, while the rest of the country had less than a 20 percent probability of recording such amounts.
“There is more than 80 percent chance of recording rainfall exceeding 25mm over parts of Luapula, Northern and Muchinga, while the rest of the country has less than 20 percent probability of recording rainfall exceeding 25mm during the forecast period. Period: 3rd to 9th December, 2024 – Luapula, Northern and Muchinga Provinces, including the Northern parts of North-Western Province: mornings – mainly cloudy, slightly windy with isolated rain. Temperature will be mild, ranging between 13 degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius. Afternoons: mainly cloudy with isolated thundershowers. Temperatures will be warm to hot ranging from 24 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius. Nights: partly cloudy, slightly windy and mild to cool with isolated rain and occasional thunder. Advisory: farmers [are] advised to continue planting and scout for pests (army worms),” stated MET.
“Copperbelt, North-Western, Western, Southern, Lusaka, Central and Eastern Provinces: Morning – mainly sunny, windy at times. Temperature will be warm, ranging between 15 degrees Celsius and 22 degrees Celsius. Afternoon: partly cloudy with a chance of isolated thundershowers. Temperature will be warm to hot ranging between 29 degrees Celsius and 36 degrees Celsius. Nights: Few clouds, windy at times and warm to mild with a slight chance of isolated rain showers. Advisory: farmers [are] advised to plant drought-tolerant crops”.
9 responses
Awesomeness MET.
Update not detailed enough to justify farmers expectations, sounds more like guessing.
Sharing such information when we planted a month ago.
MET is making these pronouncements of the weather but our planners at the Ministry of Agriculture are sitting idle. The warning regarding the weather pattern is reminding us to allocate resources wisely. Government should allocate more resources to regions which are expecting good rainfall in terms of loan allocation to farmers so that the country can have adequate food production. But the way things are as far as the SAFF loans are concerned, it is chaos as usual.
When are we going to learn to plan to do the right thing and avoid disaster?
Ba Met you are becoming very irrelevant to us farmers. What you are focasting and what is on the ground are two different scenarios. Give us a break.
I thought MET had published a forecast that was so ambitious? Talking about how Nov- Dec look good in the mentioned regions and how the overall rainfall pattern in the nation will be normal to above normal!? So now how do we ensure that we plan when the information keeps contradicting it’self as time goes by?
Thank you MET for the timely advice… Will do as wise.
And how are our farmers going to do that when they don’t have the inputs rather not received them on time?Just wondering
In most regions farmers have planted already going by the earlier forecast which predicted good rainfall this season, so what will farmers do with this information?
Spend again on other fields?