Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, March, 2, GNA – The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has advised farmers to practice sustainable agriculture to supplement inadequate rainfall this cropping season.
Sustainable agriculture practices like mulching, it said, would help conserve soil water to support plant growth while sowing drought-tolerant varieties would enable crops to survive even during the short dry spells.
Mrs Francisca Martey, the Deputy Director in charge of Research and Applied Meteorology at GMet, who was delivering the stakeholders recommendations for the seasonal forecast for middle and southern zone of Ghana, urged farmers to pay attention to GMet forecast to sow at the right time.
The recommendations are part of the 2024 Edition of the Regional Climate Outlook forum to develop agro-hydro-climate information crucial for enhancing food security and mitigating disaster risks in the sub-region.
It was hosted by GMet in collaboration with the Ghana Hydrological Authority, along with Agrhymet, World Meteorological Organisation, Acmad, river basin organizations and international climate centres.
Mrs Martey advised farmers to diversify income-generating activities, including bee-keeping, soap making to offset the production deficit that could affect areas exposed to dry spells.
She said the season was expected to witness an early stop of rain throughout the southern half of the country.
“The southern part of the country will experience longer dry spells towards the end of the season. However, few places within the east coast will experience normal spells of between 10 and 19 days.”
Mrs Martey noted that Flash Floods might occur during the peak of the season and might lead to flooding in especially low-lying areas and in-built places along waterways.
“This may lead to some roads becoming impassable when it rains. Road users should be mindful when using those roads,” she said.
Mrs Martey urged local authorities and emergency preparedness agencies to create awareness and ensure that drains were ddesilted before the rains begin to avoid floods.
The Director-General of GMet, Eric Asuman, announced that GMet would begin issuing nowcast daily, weekly, sub seasonal to seasonal , seasonal and climate projection with support from partners across the globe.
He said the forecast would commence with an outreach programme at climatological zones to engage all stakeholders, especially decision makers to educate on the seasons and incorporate it in their decision-making to save lives and property and support socioeconomic development.
“So many institutions rely on us in a way that we cannot disappoint them. Early Warning means that we must be proactive and invest in sensitisation and advocacy,” he said.
Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, in a statement on her behalf, said climate change was impacting not only national economies, but livelihoods of vulnerable communities especially.
“The weather is more extreme, ocean levels are rising. There are also extreme events such as droughts. The impacts are expected to worsen in the future. The rate of change needs urgent action,” she said.
For the subregional forcast, the experts said the overall below average to average rainfall amounts were expected in the coastal part of Côte d’Ivoire, southwestern Ghana and southeastern Liberia for the March-April-May and April-May-June 2024 periods.
During these periods, however, the amounts of rainfall are expected to be average to above average over southern and central Guinea, northern Liberia, southeastern Ghana, southern parts of Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
Late to normal starting dates for all southern areas of the Gulf of Guinea countries, from south-east Côte d’Ivoire to south-west Nigeria.
Early to average ending of season dates in the bimodal zone of eastern Côte d’Ivoire, of Ghana, Togo, Benin, and western Nigeria.
GNA