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Zimbabwe weather experts predict drought
Weather experts in Zimbabwe Monday predicted a drought in the country and the entire southern Africa region this year, blaming the prospective erratic rains on the El Nino phenomenon.
Amos Makarau, Director of Zimbabwe's Meteorological Services Department, said El Nino weather conditions normally associated with drought in southern Africa, Australia and parts of Asia had been noted in the Pacific Ocean.
He said the phenomenon often occurs every three to seven years, and had been not ed by other regional weather agencies as well.
He said a clearer of picture of the scale of the drought in Zimbabwe and the region would be known next month when the El Nino conditions in the Pacific Ocean would have been fully established.
"Normally, El Nino is associated with drier weather over Zimbabwe, but this is not the case always. We are currently working to see the impact of El Nino this coming year and we should come up with a statement in August so that the nation can prepare," Makarau said.
Southern Africa has suffered repeated droughts in recent years, widely blamed on El Nino, and Zimbabwe has been hardest hit due to its controversial land seizures from white farmers to resettle landless peasants.
While most of the white farmers had irrigation systems on their properties, most of the newly resettled farmers depend on rains.
A drought would be a huge blow to Zimbabwe's agriculture-dependent economy, which has been showing signs of recovery lately after a decade of consecutive decline.
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