body-container-line-1

Farmers asked to prepare towards rainy season

By GNA
Science Climate workshop
APR 4, 2014 LISTEN
Climate workshop

Wa (UW), April 3, GNA - Mr Charles Kweku Yorke, Head of Research at the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA), on Thursday advised farmers to prepare their lands and plan adequately towards the rainy season.

He said parts of the country are expected to have above average rainfall patterns from April to June, especially over Southern Ghana and called on farmers to take serious note of weather forecasts.

Mr Yorke gave the advice during a two-day workshop on planning scenario in Wa on Thursday, to build capacity tools used to facilitate the sharing of both scientific and indigenous weather forecast for interpretation into useful information for climate resilience and disaster risk reduction.

He said GMA is expecting rainfall amounts from April to June as follows: East Coast - 440mm, West Coast - 760mm, Forest Zone - 480mm, Northern - 370mm and that the Upper West Region would also record a 320mm rainfall.

He said: The condition of the onset date of the rainy season is totaling 20 mm in a week with one of the rainfall events of 10mm or more without a dry spell of more than 10 days for the next four weeks.

He said rainfall is expected to reduce from June and July and urged farmers to harvest water for use in anticipation of prolonged dry spells.

The programme, which was organised by Care International, USAID, WASH and Oxfam, brought together stakeholders from GMA, small holder farmers from 39 communities, extension services department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, District Assemblies and NGOs to share knowledge on climate forecasts.

GNA

body-container-line