Normal, flood-free rainfall for northern Ghana - Meteorologist

The three regions of the north have 75 per cent chance of getting normal rain this year without floods, but with the likelihood of dry spells.

The dry spells most likely would occur in May and August and last for about one to two weeks.

Mr Charles Yorke, Research Director of the Ghana Meteorological Services (GMET) announced this at a meeting of farmers, assembly members, community representatives and other stakeholders in agriculture, held at Gambaga in the Northern Region on Wednesday.

The two-day participatory scenario planning (PSP) meeting organised by Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP), Ghana, under CARE International, was aimed at developing advisories based on the anticipated weather scenario for more resilient livelihoods and risk management in the communities.

Mr Yorke said the rains this year would generally be accompanied by strong winds and would start in April and end in October. He noted that the rainfall pattern would be like that of 2005.

He explained that the rains would not start on the same day in all the regions, but a total rainfall of 20mm in one week with one of the rains reading up to 10mm was an indication that the rainy season had started. Likewise when the rains stop for 10 days in October, then that would be a sign of the end of the season.

Mr Yorke advised farmers not to hold or use cutlasses when it is raining or seek shelter under trees as the electric charge around trees during such times could easily attract lightning.

Earlier on, the farmers, discussing the local forecast based on age-long beliefs, said the rains would be moderate but could not agree on whether there would be strong winds or not.

Such beliefs include the fruiting of the shea nut and “Sibisibi” or local berry trees, whereby heavy fruiting is widely believed to indicate heavy rains. Also, when birds that nest near river banks suddenly start building their nest high up in the trees, that indicates the onset of heavy rains.

Strong and frequent whirl winds in the dry season also indicates that there would be heavy rains in the next rainy season. Other beliefs include the duration of the harmattan season, where a short period of harmattan indicates early and heavy rains and vice versa.

Mr Romanu Gyang, Programme Manager of ALP, advised the farmers to pay heed to the local beliefs and observe the signs so that together with scientific forecasts they could plan what crops to sow and the suitable time to crop so as to avoid floods or dry spells.

He explained that the PSP was a communicating climate information strategy to vulnerable rural communities and local government institutions, as it creates a platform for district stakeholders and rural farmers to learn from GMET the seasonal forecast for the year.

With information on the rains from the scientific point of view and based on the local believes, the farmers with advice from agricultural officers would discuss when best to sow and what crop to cultivate this year.

The Adaptation Learning Programme under CARE is an NGO working in parts of northern and Upper East regions to help give farmers information on climate change and also assist them to adopt various strategies to meet the challenges of climate change.

The programme is assisting farmers to improve their farming activities and also find alternative ways of earning income to supplement what they get from their farms.