| A river which is drying up following the long dry period. |
The growing season is getting off to a difficult start in the Highlands. The dry spell continues
Times are tough for rice farmers in the Highlands. Several thousand hectares of rice fields are extremely dry in Analamanga, in Alaotra-Mangoro, the rice granary of Madagascar, and in Matsiatra Ambony, at the beginning of January, where the dry episode continues . This lack of rain does not allow farmers to start growing rice if the sowing season takes place in September-October and the transplanting work in November-December (editor’s note: the start of the rainy season ), according to the farming habits of the farmers who practice “vary vakiambiaty”. Those who have ever attempted to sow seeds lament the seedlings that wither.
Concern is spreading among the peasants. “Only the rice fields irrigated by the Bevava dam are currently being transplanted. They only represent 20% of the fields in our locality,” testifies Roger Ratianarivo, rice farmer in Ambatondrazaka, yesterday. This long dry period presents a potential threat to the next harvest. “Rice fields which do not depend on this network but on natural rain risk not having a harvest this growing season if the weather remains dry in January,” continues Roger Ratianarivo. “If the rice flowering occurs after the rainy season, the harvest will be bad,” explained Andramasina MP Bina LiantsoaAndriamanjato.
It is not yet this week that farmers will be able to start transplanting work. No precipitation in sight over the Central Highlands and the East, between January 6 and 12, according to the weekly trend forecast established by the General Directorate of Meteorology yesterday. According to cycloneoi.com, abnormally dry conditions are forecast for the Big Island this week.
Hope
“Worse, they would be even more marked than the previous week, with a strong dry anomaly on the central highlands,” we can read on this site. “The atmosphere is dry because of the bush fires, the easterly flow pushes the precipitation towards the west, the monsoon is weak, the southern front which generates precipitation is very far from our island,” explains an engineer in weather to justify the drought which continues over a large part of Madagascar.
There is, however, an ounce of hope. The next few months are expected to be rainier than the previous ones. Precipitation forecast during the month of January will be above the seasonal normal in the north of the regions of Alaotra-Mangoro and Atsinanana, in the east of Analanjirofo and Sofia, as well as in the regions of Ambatosoa, Diana and Sava. “These heavy rains could cause flooding in these regions,” warn technicians from the General Directorate of Meteorology. Most areas of the Highlands, such as Analamanga, Amoron’i Mania, Matsiatra Ambony, Vakinankaratra and South Alaotra-Mangoro, are expected to experience normal to above seasonal normal rainfall this month. The amount of precipitation expected in February and March is expected to be normal to above seasonal normal over most of the island, except in the South-West, including western Matsiatra Ambony, Ihorombe, Androy , southern Amoron’i Mania and Menabe, as well as in the regions of Anosy and Atsimo Andrefana, according to forecasts.
This rainfall may not meet farmers’ expectations. Due to climate change, rainfall is disrupted.
Miangalya Ralitera
