Several farmers in Beitbridge are counting their losses after their irrigated crops were ravaged by frostbite – a phenomenon reportedly unprecedented in the district in recent memory.

Beitbridge district Agritex officer Masauso Mawocha confirmed to the Southern Eye that the frost has severely impacted crops across the district, citing the example of the sugar bean crop at the Shashi Community Irrigation Scheme being particularly affected. Said Mawocha:

We have several reports like that from across the district’s irrigated cropping.

Crops have been hit by frostbite and some reports have come from wards 5 and 12. It is an unusually cold winter.

This winter has been particularly bad for crops. Another farmer lost a whole winter maize crop in central Beitbridge.

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Elizabeth Ndou of Beitbridge East said her irrigated fodder was hit by frostbite. She said:

We woke up to see ice on the grass and trees. It was extremely cold in the morning and we had never experienced such a cold winter before.

Beitbridge businessman and cattle farmer Terry Charles Mulowa said:

There is no other way, but to restart. I had a variety of fodder plants and none was spared by the cold.

Veterinary Department head Rutendo Mwaramba referred questions to her superiors in Harare when contacted for comment.

Tariro Moyo, who lives near the Limpopo River, said she had never seen anything like that in her lifetime.

Southern Eye reported a source at the Beitbridge Meteorological Station as saying they had never recorded such low temperatures in years. Said the source:

Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, we had ground temperatures at -3C, while the atmospheric temperature was at -0,8 all in the negative.

Zimbabwe endured its most severe drought in four decades during the 2023/24 summer season, which was then followed by an unusually harsh winter, particularly in the late June and early July period of 2024.

In Zimbabwe, there is a longstanding belief that summer seasons with below-average rainfall are often followed by extremely cold winters.

However, Met Office records from the United Kingdom over the past 50 years suggest that prolonged, hot summers are just as likely to be followed by a mild winter as they are by a bitterly cold one. Derek Hardy at the Met Office said:

As far as we can tell, it’s completely random. You really wouldn’t want to put money on it.

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