Agriculture experts have advised farmers to replant early maturing maize varieties to take advantage of the resumption of rains in most parts of the country.
Since the start of the 2024/25 rainfall season in November, rains have been intermittent and a heat wave experienced in December wilted crops such as maize and tobacco.
However, rains have resumed in districts such as Karonga, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Dedza, Mchinji, Salima, Blantyre, Machinga, Mangochi and Mwanza.
In an interview yesterday, a farmer Austin Kachiwawa from Kanduku Village, Traditional Authority Kanduku in Mwanza District said the rains have given him optimism that the maize he planted last month will survive.
“I already applied Urea fertiliser, so I will just take care of the crops that germinated with the hope that they will grow as the rains continue,” he said.
Another farmer, Charles Cosmas, also from Mwanza, said he has started uprooting dead maize crops and will plant drought resistant crops such as cassava and pigeon peas.
Meanwhile, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services director Lucy Mtilatila said yesterday that a good coverage of rains is expected over the next two weeks, but will be interrupted by a brief dry spell from Friday January 10 to Sunday January 12.
She said: “There are some areas, such as parts of Nsanje ,which are not experiencing rain. This is happening in some districts as well. But generally, the whole country is well-covered and the gaps will be covered in the next few days.”
Kasungu Agricultural Development Division programme manager Yusuf Shaibu and Karonga district director of agriculture services Yaz Nyirenda have since advised farmers to plant or replant their crops using early maturing varieties.
Shaibu said in an interview that if the rains continue to stabilise over the coming days, farmers whose maize crops have died need to uproot them and replant.
“Farmers can also plant roots and tubers such as cassava and sweet potatoes, which generally have lower water demands than maize,” he said.
Commenting on the issue, agriculture expert Joyce Nababi, who is an environmental chemistry lecturer at Mzuzu University, said farmers should be encouraged to cover soil around plants with vegetative material to preserve moisture.
“This helps the soil to fight back and retain moisture whenever there is heat and the plants do not dry up,” she said.
Last month, Farmers Union of Malawi president Maness Nkhata called on the government to support farmers with seeds to use for replanting.
