The Sunday Mail
Harmony Agere
Despite the cloud seeding programme starting a bit late, farmers have welcomed the move saying it will go a long way in assisting crops that were starting to wilt in some provinces.
Cloud enhancement will not only help resuscitate the crops, it will also help with the water levels in dams as well as grazing areas for livestock.
The Meteorological Services Department started the national cloud seeding programme last week, a development that has resulted in improved rainfall in some parts of the country.
After predicting poor rainfall in the 2015-16 cropping season, the Met department advised Government to consider artificial rainfall stimulation to avoid severe drought. The cloud seeding exercise was supposed to have commenced around November last year after Government pledged to release funds to buy required material and another cloud seeding aircraft. However, there were delays as Government took time to authorise the tendering process.
The Met Department says extensive work to enhance clouds in Mashonaland West and Central provinces have already been done.
The weather forecasters said they will soon move to other areas as the exercise is targeting the whole country.
Climate Applications and Agromet Officer in the Met Department, Mr John Mupuro, said the procedure will be determined by the quality of clouds in targeted areas.
“Cloud seeding started on Monday 11 January 2016. Clouds have been seeded in Mashonaland West and Central,” he said.
“There has been an improvement in clouds as moisture is now covering the whole country except for the extreme southern districts.”
Mr Mupuro said Lowveld areas could be the last to benefit as clouds in those areas do not yet show the quality required for them to be modified.
“The southern areas have been dry generally, and haven’t had suitable clouds of late, but as soon as they have, seeding will be done. As long as resources are available and conditions are conducive, we will continue with the programme.”
Following the cloud seeding exercise, Mr Mupuro said rainfall improved in some areas with some parts of the serviced provinces recording as much as 44mm.
Despite the cloud seeding programme starting a bit late, farmers have welcomed the move saying it will go a long way in assisting crops that were starting to wilt in some provinces.
Cloud enhancement will not only help resuscitate the crops, it will also help with the water levels in dams as well as grazing areas for livestock.
“The last time we met with the Met Department over cloud seeding was last year and we haven’t heard from them since then,” said Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) executive director, Paul Zakariya.
“But we welcome the exercise because the crops are at a stage where more water is needed. The whole country needs rainfall.
“We obviously want the maize-growing areas to do well but other areas need water for grazing and for dams.”
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president, Wonder Chabikwa, said his union is carrying out a crop assessment programme countrywide to determine critical areas so that an intervention plan can be devised.
“The Government usually do its own assessment but we are not going to wait for them, we are already doing ours and that will help us identify the problem areas. Cloud seeding is important because crops are now at a critical stage and if they don’t get enough water, we are facing a crisis.”
Mr Chabikwa said the forestry levy should be used to fund cloud seeding in the future in order to avoid delays.
“Levies for the environment should be used for cloud seeding purposes instead of waiting for the cash-strapped Treasury.”
Others have proposed that cloud seeding funding be levied on farmers.
Efforts to get comments from Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri and Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made were fruitless. Deputy Minister for Agriculture, David Marapira, referred questions back to Dr Made.
In his 2016 National Budget statement, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa pledged about half a million dollars towards cloud seeding.
“…the 2016 National Budget is also prioritising cloud seeding, with $200 000 having already been disbursed in support of a fairly wider programme. I propose to allocate a further $300 000 for this purpose,” he said.
The amount of funds released towards the cloud enhancement exercise could not be immediately established. It was also not clear whether the $300 000 has already been released. Zimbabwe, among other countries in the Southern parts of Africa, is facing an El Nino-induced drought and a report released by Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee shows that 1,5 million people will need food aid beginning this month.
