The agricultural season has started well in southern areas that typically experience an onset of rains by mid-October through early November. Eastern South Africa, Swaziland and southern Madagascar received above average rains in October and early November (Figure 1, blue ovals #1 and #2). The rains have been sufficient for planting, which has started in the main maize growing areas of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho. Although planting has also started in Lesotho, rains there were reported to have arrived late. In contrast, northern parts of the region, including north-eastern Angola, southern/central DRC and northern Zambia, received below average early season rains (Figure 1, red oval #3). Rains were also below average in eastern Tanzania (Figure 1, red oval #4), including some of the bimodal areas.
