Farmers across the country are keeping their fingers crossed on the fate of their crops after a five-day heatwave left maize and tobacco wilted, sparking fears about yields this farming season.
The hot weather conditions started on December 18 and hit most parts of the country with temperatures going up as high as 35 degrees Celsius and 42 degrees Celsius in some parts of the Southern Region.
In separate interviews yesterday, officials from agricultural development divisions (ADDs) and Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) said the five-day heatwave has dried up crops most of which were already affected by erratic rains experienced since the onset of the 2024/25 rainfall season in November.
The officials said the most affected areas include Balaka, Blantyre, Dedza, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Kasungu, Machinga, Mangochi, Mwanza, Neno, Ntcheu and Nsanje.
Balaka district commissioner Tamanya Harawa in an interview yesterday said the district has been hardhit by the heatwave.
He said: “The situation is also bad as there has been hot weather following the rains induced by Cyclone Chido last week. So far, we have not received any rain for a week now.”
Harawa said the problem has been compounded by the district being in the low rainfall-averse zone.
A farmer, Henderson Yohane, whom The Nation found working in his maize field yesterday 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 tusselling.
“If we do not get rain, it means all this maize will start tasselling next week at knee height. It will be a huge loss and there will be no harvest at all,” he said.
Kasungu ADD programme manager Yusuf Shaibu in an interview yesterday said more than 400 000 farmers in the district have been affected.
He said a majority of farmers in the district are yet to plant crops because of the heatwave and that there have been no rains but for those who have planted, their fields have no moisture and crops are dying.
Said Shaibu: “Tobacco farmers have been mostly affected because they already transferred their crops from nurseries and most of these have not survived in the fields.
“Farmers are being forced to buy seedlings at expensive prices from other farmers who have nurseries.”
On his part, Shire Valley ADD spokesperson Abraham Banda said in areas under the ADD, which covers Chikwawa and Nsanje, some maize crops have dried up due to the heat but sorghum crops are still surviving.
In the Northern Region, Karonga district director of agriculture services Yaz Nyirenda said most of the maize crop will permanently wilt if there are no rains in the coming five days.
“The situation does not look good. If the heatwave continues for the next five days, the maize crop will die. We must pray for the rains this week,” he said.
FUM president Mannes Nkhata yesterday described the situation as concerning for farmers.
She said for some, the crop is the second to die after the first one also wilted early this month after early planting.
Nkhata urged the government and other stakeholders to start putting in place mechanisms to support farmers with seeds, considering that most farmers have lost their seeds to the harsh weather.
She said: “Seed is expensive and not readily available. If the farmers are not supported, most of them will replant recycled seed which is less productive and prone to diseases.”
The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (MET) indicated last week that the heatwave will continue being experienced until December 23 2024.
In an interview yesterday, MET chief Lucy Mtilatila said they expect southern areas of the country to start cooling on Tuesday, December 24 while the Central and Northern areas will remain hot until December 26.
“We anticipate that the Southern areas of the country will receive rains from December 24 and by December 30, the rains will be widespread across the country,” she said.
In the 2023/24 season, Malawi was hit by a dry spell induced by El Niño weather 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.
Additional reporting by GREENWELL KAYUNI, Correspondent
