Heavy rains cause flooding and waterlogging
KEY MESSAGES
• Extremely high rainfall in south-eastern parts of the region has caused flooding and waterlogging in several countries.
• Late onset, erratic rainfall, and high temperatures have resulted in crop failure, requiring replanting in affected parts of Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. In Lesotho, crop performance has been negatively affected by poor rainfall and high temperatures.
• Despite the negative impacts of inclement weather in many countries, crop conditions are reported to be good in many parts of Malawi, parts of central and northern Mozambique, the main maize-production areas of South Africa, unimodal parts of Tanzania, and most parts of Zambia.
• Armyworm outbreaks have been reported in Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These outbreaks have occurred at different levels of severity and in some cases they will likely impact overall national production negatively.