Current rains in Makueni unreliable

Makueni, Monday, 29, May, 2023

KNA by Patrick Nyakundi

Makueni County Director of Meteorological Services Mr. Jonathan Ngayai has said that the current rains being experienced in Makueni are unreliable and insignificant saying they are off season.

Ngayai disclosed that the big climate systems like Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITTCZ) are not in our country and have shifted and currently it is in South Sudan and it is headed north and expected back in the end of September this year saying what we have is from local systems.

Consequently, he observed that the off season rains will come with advantages and disadvantages especially for the local farmers in the county.

On advantages, the county Director urged farmers to take the opportunity to harvest roof water in a bid to alleviate the acute water shortage they have while adding that these rains will make maize already grown reach maturity.

“Farmers who have planted late, the rains will make the maize crop attain maturity especially in upper zones like Mbooni, Kilungu, Ukia and Mukaa,” said Ngayai while speaking to KNA in his Wote town office on Monday.

“The farmers can use the current off season rains to harvest much water especially from the roof catchment,” he added.

However, he said that the rains are likely to affect the already mature crops like green gram, cowpeas and some areas beans saying they may rot in the farms.

In this regard, he advised the farmers to ensure they have a dry storage place to avert the harvest going into waste.

“The farmers are likely to loose the crop unless they salvage it. Meaning they should look for dry storage areas,” warned the County Director of Meteorological.

At the same time, Ngayai urged motorists to be careful as they drive along the Machakos-Wote road saying there is fog especially Mukuyuni and Makongo also some sections of the road.

“I urge motorists to drive carefully in some sections of the road from Machakos to Wote. There is fog and the road may be slippery during this period and they need to be cautious,” Ngayai warned.

Some of the areas that received rains include Wote/Nziu 9.9MM, Mbooni/Kikima 10MM, Emali/Mulala 8.5MM, Mukaa 7.4MM, Kasikeu 7.2MM and Kikumbulyo 3.5MM to mention a few.

On the impending El-Nino, Ngayai said that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) the umbrella body of all national Meteorological and hydro-logical services, Kenya Meteorological Department, is monitoring and will advise accordingly.

“The WMO and KMD are monitoring all indicators to see if it has attained the threshold of El-Nino. Citizens should not rely on hearsay but on reliable authenticated information from KMD),” Ngayai said

 Courtesy ; K. N. A