Good rains 'not enough yet'
2003-10-21 09:34
Johannesburg - The good rains of the past few days hasn't been enough to break the drought in the northern provinces.
So said weather and agricultural experts on Monday.
The Limpopo River at Grobler's Bridge border post to Botswana was still bone-dry a week ago, but light rain has fallen in the area.
The weather service predicts rain on Tuesday in some parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng before the skies clear later this week.
Although the drought drags on, the rain has brought some relief for maize farmers in Mpumalanga.
Wheat SA chairperson Bully Botma says some farmers in the province can start preparing their land. "Although we are thankful, we still need more rain now", he says.
Johan van den Berg of the environment analysis company Enviro Vision says it still will take a while for drought-stricken Limpopo and Mpumalanga to recover.
Weather service statistics show that large parts of Limpopo had rain, although it's far below the normal rainfall for this time of the year.
Between October 1 to October 19, only 7mm was measured in Phalaborwa in Limpopo, compared to the 42mm average. In Polokwane, there was 5mm compared to 43mm. Thabazimbi had 6mm as against the usual 56mm.
The weather service predicts that from October 19 to November 17 there should be rainfall of between 125mm and 200mm in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and northern parts of Gauteng.
The western Free State, some parts of Northwest, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape all should get between 50mm and 75mm of rain.
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