From Friday, some parts of the country have received rains to the relief of farmers after eight days of scorching heat wilted crops.
Spot-checks indicate that parts of Kasungu, Mchinji, Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntcheu, Blantyre, Thyolo, Mulanje Phalombe and Machinga, which were among the hardest hit, received rains over the weekend.
Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (MET) data shows that Mtubwi Agriculture in Machinga received rains measuring 48 millimetres (mm) on Friday while Malawi University of Science and Technology in Thyolo recorded 8mm of rain on the same day.
A farmer, Alick Jombo of Waliranji Village, Traditional Authority Mavwere in Mchinji said yesterday crops have been revived following heavy rains in the area during the weekend.
“Hopefully, the rains will not stop because we also had some days of rains in November but they were followed by the dry spell which damaged crops,” he said.
On her part, Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) president Maness Nkhata said the prospects of more rains in the coming week have brought a sigh of relief to farmers.
She encouraged fellow farmers to go back to their fields to continue doing various farming operations such as replanting, weeding, fertiliser application, and other relevant operations.
“Despite the fact that some farmers have already suffered devastating effects of the heatwave that the country experienced in the past two weeks, it is not too late to replant and reclaim the season,” said Nkhata.
Meanwhile, agriculture expert Zachary Kasomekera has said farmers have various options, depending on what they did before the dry spell.
He said farmers who already planted and the seeds germinated will only replant in the plant stations where crops have failed.
“If there is no germination, the farmer has to check a few planting stations at random to see if the seed is still alive or dead. If in 20 planting stations, 16 stations have dead seeds then replanting is necessary. Otherwise, it’s better to wait for germination and reseed empty planting stations,” said the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources council chairperson.
MET director Lucy Mtilatila said in an interview yesterday that substantial amounts of rain have been experienced in the Southern and Central regions of the country.
“The rains will likely continue in the coming days and will cover most parts of the country, including the Northern areas,” she said.
On the prevailing high temperatures, Mtilatila said temperatures will be cooling as the rains continue to fall.
