Promising forecast gives hope amid the drought
A good rainy season is expected in the 2024/2025 farming season and it can’t come soon enough.
It gives us hope and a reason to smile amidst the devastating drought which is taking its toll on many Zimbabwean households.
Feel good, upbeat news is rare to come across in Zim (and indeed worldwide) these days so I thought I should focus on the promising forecast, considering the struggles faced by many because of the lack of rain.
Being a farmer, this is obviously music to my ears.
The last season was the worst since I ventured into farming more than ten years ago; we harvested nothing, not even a handful of maize came from our usually reliable fields.
This applies to millions of other farmers and rural folks who rely on the rains for their maize crop, which is our staple food.
People who normally grow maize for consumption and sell any excess have been buying maize for mealie meal for the last couple of months and will continue doing so until harvest time in May; it’s tough I tell you!
Of course, there is drought relief food from the government but it’s never enough for everyone.
So I am really looking forward to the normal to above normal rains anticipated this coming season
You know who else has their fingers and toes crossed? Bulawayo residents!
Residents in the country’s second largest city are literally seeing dust as their taps run dry for weeks.
While officially water shedding is 120 hours (five days), per week, in some instances residents go for almost an entire month with running water.
People now rely on bowsers and community boreholes for water, while long winding queues at these boreholes is now a common sight.
Major supply dams were decommissioned as water levels had dropped to low levels and thus the above normal rains will be welcome by many – providing they materialize of course!
We’ve been let down by politicians promising us the world before, it wouldn’t surprise me if the weather also fails to deliver on its damp forecast!
Still on trying to find feel good stories, we are getting to that time of the year when the country turns purple because of the blooming jacaranda trees.
I normally gloat about this spectacular beauty every year by dedicating the whole column to it but this year I have decided to spare you the jealously.
Botswana might have jacaranda trees but they are not as many and not as picturesque as here in Zim.
But anyway, they have started blooming and in no time it will be purple all over, nature lovers and photographers will be having a good time.
And finally, I can’t resist congratulating local team Dynamos FC on their victory over Orapa United on Sunday.
The Harare side beat BW’s diamond giant’s 1-0 in the first leg of their CAF Confederations Cup match played in Francistown.
I’m told my homeboys and girls turned up in good numbers to support (see Society in Action 16A).
Hopefully the smiles will continue this weekend when DeMbare and the Ostriches go again in Ghetto for Sunday’s second leg.
