Meteorological dept challenged … provide weather data

THE Meteorological Department should provide the required information when the country is faced with questionable weather patterns threatening to emanate into a drought, former UPND vice president for politics, Canisius Banda has said.

And President Edgar Lungu at the weekend complained about the sporadic rainfall experienced in some parts of the country.

Dr Banda said that the lack of information on the weather patterns could have devastating effects on the economy.

He said that farmers should be provided with the required information at the required time so that, when drought was forecast, they would then switch to drought resistant crops.

Dr Banda pointed out that rain had now become unreliable, adding that it is either there was too much or too little rain and in some cases it wrecked havoc on human communities.

The former UPND official was concerned about the continued absence of rain in Lusaka, Southern province and other parts of the country.

Dr Banda reiterated that farmers should not only be sensitive to market demands, but also weather patterns. He charged that Zambia was not in a water crisis but that there was need to keep the nation abreast with the weather forecast for the sake of the economy.

Dr Banda said that climate was changing and restoring it to desirable default settings would take a very long time.