Climate Change and Meteorological Services says there are strong prospects of good rains in most parts of the country, particularly in March this year.
This was disclosed during a week-long review meeting of the 2025-26 agriculture season which Transforming Agriculture Through Diversification and Entrepreneurship (Trade) Programme organised.
The review attracted officials from Met and extension workers from Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi and Nkhata Bay districts.
Speaking in an interview, meteorological officer Frank Kowera said current rainfall patterns showed that their earlier forecast for October to December was accurate, as most parts of the Northern Region had received more rains as predicted.
“Farmers should keep on listening to the daily or weekly updates so that they should be making informed decisions, be it [on] fertiliser application or other crop husbandry practices, in line with the weather forecast. We expect more rains, especially in the month of March, across the country,” he said.
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Trade Environment and Climate Change Specialist Amos Simwela said the programme uses the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture approach to help farmers make informed decisions.
Simwela said the purpose of the review was to reassess and provide updated climate advisories to farmers midway through the agriculture season.
“The advisories are very important because the farmer depends on them. For a farmer to decide on practices to do climate smart agriculture, practices to do on their fields, these advisories help. The advisories are built on the weather forecast for a particular area,” he said.
Kenneth Msukwa, an extension worker from Mpamba Extension Planning Area in Nkhata Bay District, said the season had started well, in terms of rainfall.
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“As of now we are advising farmers to plant rice, sweet potatoes and cassava and not maize because we are already midway the season,” he said.
Through the programme, Trade is promoting two value chains of beef and honey and, in the Northern Region, it is working with extension workers from organisations such as Find your Feet, Sprodeta and Challengers Malawi
