Computing and modeling for crop yields in Burkina Faso based on climatic data information

Authors:
Yu-Min Wang;Seydou Traore;Tienfuan Kerh
Affiliations:
Department of Civil Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu Hsiang, Pingtung, Taiwan;Department of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu Hsiang, Pingtung, Taiwan;Department of Civil Engineering, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu Hsiang, Pingtung, Taiwan
Venue:
WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications
Year:
2008

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Abstract

The crop yields deficit under rainfed condition is attributed to cumulative effects of low precipitation and inappropriate cropping calendar in Burkina Faso which is located in a dry tropical climate. An efficient use of agricultural water for gaining better productivity in African semi-arid region has been widely suggested based on a cropping calendar approach. Therefore, a suitable cropping calendar could be determined by using the relationship between water and yields in order to have better water management and crop output. This paper aims to model the crop water balance analysis by applying the climatic data information collected from 1995 to 2006 to a reference model and rainfall contribution index recently developed for Ouagadougou and Banfora of Burkina Faso. Also, after the analysis, the crop water yield function concept is used for establishing climatic data information model to examine the final output under different planting dates. From the results, it was found that the difference between potential and expected yields was causally affected by the planting dates applied. In addition, by comparing the maximum expected yields to the average values, the yields were reduced between 5 to 18% and 4 to 23% in Ouagadougou and Banfora, respectively. The difference is small when the planting dates are closer to the established suitable dates. The suitable cropping calendar determined using the model in this study should therefore be used to alleviate water shortage and yield deficit under rainfed condition. Finally, a low water consuming crop species coupled with suitable planting dates could be recommended for agriculture water management in African semi-arid region.