Local climate variability and crop production in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Variations in the climate constitute a significant threat to the productivity of food crops in the Gambia. A good understanding of the influence of climate variability on crop production is vital for climate resilience and improved food security. This study examined the trends, relationships, and the extent to which growing season temperatures and the SPEI (Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index) impacted sorghum, millet, maize, and rice yields in three agro-ecological regions of the Gambia during 1990–2019. Mean temperatures and the SPEI exhibited increasing trends while observed yields showed a decline across all regions. The SPEI had a significant positive relationship with yields, and temperatures were negatively associated with yields. Though yield response to climate variability differs among regions, 20% to 62% of variations in the four crop yields were due to climate trends. The combined effect of the SPEI and temperatures decreased yields from 3.6 kg ha−1 year−1 to 29.4 kg ha−1 year−1, with the most severe decline observed in rice and maize yields in the Sahelian zone. Although uncertainties might arise from not considering related extreme climate events, this study highlights how past climate trends affect cereal yields in the Gambia; thus, any unfavorable change in the local climate could have severe repercussions on the country’s food security. There is a need for concerted efforts to increase investments in adaptation strategies to lessen the effects of the climate for improved crop productivity.

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Implications of Climate Variability on Market Gardening Crop Production in Santa Sub-Division of Cameroon

Greener Journal of Environment Management and Public Safety ◽

10.15580/gjemps.2015.1.031114142 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 009-018

Author(s):

Sani Gur Amawa ◽

◽

Tata Emmanuel Sunjo ◽

Edwin Awambeng Azieh ◽

Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Crop Production ◽

Market Gardening

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Climate Variability Since 1970 and Farmers’ Observations in Northern Ghana

Sustainable Agriculture Research ◽

10.5539/sar.v5n2p41 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 41 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Emmanuel Nyadzi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Variability ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Crop Production ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Northern Region ◽

Northern Ghana ◽

Climate Variability And Change ◽

Urban Centers ◽

Access To Credit

<p>The study examines how farmers’ observations of climate variability and change correspond with 42 years (1970-2011) meteorological data of temperature and rainfall. It shows how farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana adjust to the changing climate and explore the various obstacles that hinder the implementation of their adaptation strategies. With the help of an extension officer, 200 farmers from 20 communities were randomly selected based on their farming records. Temperatures over the last four decades (1970-2009) increased at a rate of 0.04 (± 0.41) ˚C and 0.3(± 0.13)˚C from 2010-2011 which is consistent to the farmers (82.5%) observations. Rainfall within the districts are characterised by inter-annual and monthly variability. It experienced an increased rate of 0.66 (± 8.30) mm from 1970-2009, which was inconsistent with the farmers (81.5%) observation. It however decreased from 2010-2011 at a huge rate of -22.49 (±15.90) mm which probably was the reason majority of the respondents claim rainfall was decreasing. Only 64.5% of the respondents had adjusted their farming activities because of climate variability and change. They apply fertilizers and pesticides, practice soil and water conservation, and irrigation for communities close to dams. Respondents desire to continue their current adaptation methods but may in the future consider changing crop variety, water-harvesting techniques, change crop production to livestock keeping, and possibly migrate to urban centers. Lack of climate change education, low access to credit and agricultural inputs are some militating factors crippling the farmers’ effort to adapt to climate change.</p>

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Forecasting the impacts of climate variability: lessons from the rainfed corn market in Ceará, Brazil

Environment and Development Economics ◽

10.1017/s1355770x07004172 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 201-227 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

ARIASTER B. CHIMELI ◽

FRANCISCO DE ASSIS DE SOUZA FILHO ◽

MARCOS COSTA HOLANDA ◽

FRANCIS CARLO PETTERINI

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Developing Economies ◽

Arid Zone ◽

Well Being ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Local Climate ◽

The World ◽

Forecast Models ◽

Climatic Impacts ◽

Semi Arid

ABSTRACTA number of studies show that climatic shocks have significant economic impacts in several regions of the world, especially in, but not limited to, developing economies. In this paper we focus on a drought-related indicator of well-being and emergency spending in the Brazilian semi-arid zone – rainfed corn market – and estimate aggregate behavioral and forecast models for this market conditional on local climate determinants. We find encouraging evidence that our approach can help policy makers buy time to help them prepare for drought mitigating actions. The analysis is applicable to economies elsewhere in the world and climatic impacts other than those caused by droughts.

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Climate Variability and Change in Bihar, India: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Crop Production

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su9111998 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 1998 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kindie Tesfaye ◽

Pramod Aggarwal ◽

Fasil Mequanint ◽

Paresh Shirsath ◽

Clare Stirling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Crop Production ◽

Climate Variability And Change ◽

Sustainable Crop Production ◽

Challenges And Opportunities

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CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE: FARMER PERCEPTIONS AND UNDERSTANDING OF INTRA-SEASONAL VARIABILITY IN RAINFALL AND ASSOCIATED RISK IN SEMI-ARID KENYA

Experimental Agriculture ◽

10.1017/s0014479710000918 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 47 (2) ◽

pp. 267-291 ◽

Cited By ~ 91

Author(s):

K. P. C. RAO ◽

W. G. NDEGWA ◽

K. KIZITO ◽

A. OYOO

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Crop Production ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Crop Productivity ◽

General Tendency ◽

Climate Variability And Change ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Probabilistic Nature ◽

Semi Arid

SUMMARYThis study examines farmers’ perceptions of short- and long-term variability in climate, their ability to discern trends in climate and how the perceived trends converge with actual weather observations in five districts of Eastern Province in Kenya where the climate is semi-arid with high intra- and inter-annual variability in rainfall. Field surveys to elicit farmers’ perceptions about climate variability and change were conducted in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, Mwingi and Mutomo districts. Long-term rainfall records from five meteorological stations within a 10 km radius from the survey locations were obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department and were analysed to compare with farmers’ observations. Farmers’ responses indicate that they are well aware of the general climate in their location, its variability, the probabilistic nature of the variability and the impacts of this variability on crop production. However, their ability to synthesize the knowledge they have gained from their observations and discern long-term trends in the probabilistic distribution of seasonal conditions is more subjective, mainly due to the compounding interactions between climate and other factors such as soil fertility, soil water and land use change that determine the climate's overall influence on crop productivity. There is a general tendency among the farmers to give greater weight to negative impacts leading to higher risk perception. In relation to long-term changes in the climate, farmer observations in our study that rainfall patterns are changing corroborated well with reported perceptions from other places across the African continent but were not supported by the observed trends in rainfall data from the five study locations. The main implication of our findings is the need to be aware of and account for the risk during the development and promotion of technologies involving significant investments by smallholder farmers and exercise caution in interpreting farmers’ perceptions about long-term climate variability and change.

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Quantifying the uncertainty introduced by internal climate variability in projections of Canadian crop production

Environmental Research Letters ◽

10.1088/1748-9326/ab88fc ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (7) ◽

pp. 074032

Author(s):

Budong Qian ◽

Qi Jing ◽

Ward Smith ◽

Brian Grant ◽

Alex J Cannon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Crop Production ◽

Internal Climate Variability

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Exploring the Combined Effect of Urbanization and Climate Variability on Urban Vegetation: A Multi-Perspective Study Based on More than 3000 Cities in China

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12081328 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 1328 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ze Liang ◽

Yueyao Wang ◽

Fuyue Sun ◽

Hong Jiang ◽

Jiao Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Great Influence ◽

Yangtze River Delta ◽

Specific Humidity ◽

Urban Vegetation ◽

Key Factors ◽

Local Climate ◽

Nighttime Light ◽

The Yangtze River Delta

More than 3000 cities in China were used to study the effect of urbanization and local climate variability on urban vegetation across different geographical and urbanization conditions. The national scale estimation shows that China’s urban vegetation depicts a trend of degradation from 2000 to 2015, especially in developed areas such as the Yangtze River Delta. According to the panel models, the increase of precipitation (PREC), solar radiation (SRAD), air temperature (TEMP), and specific humidity (SHUM) all enhance urban vegetation, while nighttime light intensity (NLI), population density (POPDEN), and fractal dimension (FRAC) do the opposite. The effects change along the East–West gradient; the influences of PREC and SHUM become greater, while those of TEMP, SRAD, NLI, AREA, and FRAC become smaller. PREC, SHUM, and SRAD play the most important roles in Northeast, Central, and North China, respectively. The role of FRAC and NLI in East China is much greater than in other regions. POPDEN remains influential across all altitudes, while FRAC affects only low-altitude cities. NLI plays a greater role in larger cities, while FRAC and POPDEN are the opposite. In cities outside of the five major urban agglomerations, PREC has a great influence while the key factors are more diversified inside.

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