Rainfall adequate for good crop season, Fews Net reports

Rwanda can expect continued rainfall for the rest of April but decreasing in May, Fews Net, a USAID-funded activity, said on a report posted in the Internet on Monday. "Rainfall this season should be adequate for a good crop season," it said in its report of 14 April. It said that a Water Requirement Satisfaction Index, used to monitor and forecast crop performance, showed that cereals would perform well thorughout the country this season. This forecast, it said, had been confirmed by field reports. It said that cumulative rainfall from January to 10 April, at 435 mm, was slightly higher than the long-term average of 377 mm for the same period. It said spatial rain distribution throughout the country "has been fairly uniform", although slightly more rain was recorded in Gitarama, Butare, Gikongoro, and Cyangugu, in the southern part of the country. However, it reported, temporal distribution had been erratic, with "very heavy rains" of up to 93 mm recorded during the last 10 days of March. Too much rain has destroyed crops in "minor areas" in Kinihira, Bungwe, Kisaro and Rushaki districts, all in Byumba Province; and also in Bugarura District in the Ngege Sector of Ruhengeri Province. It said that in Kigarama, Kibungo Ville and Kayonza districts of Kibungo Province, hailstones reportedly destroyed some banana crops.