Drought expected to continue

As the strongest El Niño in 20 years continues to develop, the latest seasonal outlooks from the South African Weather Service and CSIR indicate that the rest of spring and early to mid-summer will be much drier than normal for the central parts of South Africa. The North West, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have been experiencing drought conditions for the last year and the Free State and North West provinces have already been declared disaster areas. Government has indicated that Mpumalanga and Limpopo will be declared disaster areas in the next two weeks with KZN expected to follow. Disaster areas are eligible for emergency assistance from the National Treasury. This week, government urged cattle, sheep and goat farmers in drought-stricken areas to cut the size of their herds. To read more, click HERE and HERE for the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ climate advisory for the 2015/16 summer season.