De p a r t m e n t o f Climate Change and Meteorological Services (MET) says the heat wave the country has been experiencing will ease by the end of the week when farmers should expect some rains.
In September, MET forecasted normal to above normal rains in the country, but warned that the onset of the rains will be delayed.
But since the start of the season in October, the rains have been erratic and the country has experienced episodes of dry spells, including a heat wave which started on December 18 2024 and saw temperatures ranging from 29 degrees Celsius to 43 degrees Celsius in Chikwawa.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, MET director Lucy Mtilatila said the seasonal forecast still stands and they are sure that once the systems normalise the country will start experiencing rains.
She said: “We should be able to have isolated cases of rains this week but more and more areas will start getting rains as we go towards the end of this month and into January next year.”
Mtilatila further said while the temperatures are still high, they are still subsiding when compared to last week.
She cited Chikwawa which is now recording temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius from 43 degrees Celsius last week.
The heat wave has wilted maize and tobacco crops across the country, sparking fears about low yields this farming season.
A farmer Hender son Yohane, whom The Nation found working in his maize field on Sunday in Benjamin Village, Traditional Authority Kanduku in Mwanza District, said maize requires a lot of water and if the heat wave continues it will suck all the moisture from the soil resulting in early tasselling.
Meanwhile, agriculture experts have said the wilting of essential food crops will impact on smallholder farmers who rely heavily on rain-fed agriculture as they lack the resources to adopt more climate-resilient agricultural practices.
In an interview yesterday, Civil Society Agriculture Network chairperson Herbert Chagona said the focus now must be on providing emergency support to affected farmers, including water access and irrigation support where possible.
Another expert Zachary Kasomekera, who is Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources council chairperson, said prolonged dry spells are having a high recurrence frequency in Malawi; hence, the country needs water har vest ing infrastructure.
In the 2023/2024 season, Malawi was hit by a dry spell that lasted over a month and the country produced 2.9 million metric tonnes (MT) of maize which was 17 percent less than the previous season’s 3.5 million MT.
