A communique from Angola has indicated that normal to below normal rains are to be expected this season. The Communique which was finalised after over a 100 meteorologists who had gathered at the 3rd Southern African Regional Climate Forum (SARCOF-23), said normal rains were expected in the 3 months leading to December.
However, between January and March 2020, Zimbabwe, western Angola (Namibe province), Namibia, southern South Africa, Eswatini and Madagascar will have normal to below normal rains.
This information comes at a time when the government has started to gather inputs to distribute to farmers as confirmed by the Agriculture, Lands, Water and Climate Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos who said this to Sunday News:
Preparations for the upcoming season have already begun and this year we want farmers to plant early. As such, we are targeting to procure inputs for both Command Agriculture and Presidential Input Scheme by the beginning of September and hopefully start distribution by end of month.
Last month Mthuli Ncube set aside around 3.6 billion for agriculture, with a huge chunk of that money going to Command Agriculture.
More: Sunday News