Characterisation of dry spells for agricultural applications in Malawi

Abstract

Dry spells are one of the climate change hazards that continue to exert pressure on the agriculture sector, hence affecting food security. Understanding dry spell characteristics of an area helps in coming up with interventions and adaptive measures among other advantages. This study aimed at understanding characteristics of dry spells for Malawi by using climate hazards group infrared precipitation with stations precipitation data from 1981 to 2019. The study focused on the spatial distribution, maximum number of dry days, trend of maximum dry days and time of occurrence of dry spells. Data was analysed using Mann–Kendal trend analysis in R software. The results indicate a high number of occurrences of dry spells in the southern region than the other two regions of Malawi. In addition, the southern region experienced the highest maximum number of dry days. However, there is an upward trend for maximum days of dry spells in central region than all other regions. Local scale topographic influences on dry spell occurrence were also apparent. The study further established that the number of dry spell occurrence in the rainfall season starts to increase towards end of March. In this regard, although rainfall season in the study area is considered to be from November to April, the study recommends that growing season should be considered to be November to March so that crops are not affected by end of season dry spells which are common. Farmers should ensure that they plant crops that will mature with this growing period.