Abstract: Crop production is a complex combination of inputs which influenced by environmental, economical, institutional, political and social factors. Targeted extension for heterogeneous farming systems is a challenge in developing countries. Crop production characterization based on agro-ecology, production system and different farm components helps to identify area specific problems and give proper technological intervention to address the problems. Therefore, this study was initiated to characterize cropping system in East Shewa Zone with the objectives of identifying and characterizing the existing cropping systems, identify and prioritize constraints of crop production for identifying potential research interventions. Both Primary and secondary data collection method was used. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select sampled districts, PAs and household farmers. Primary data was collected by conducting Focus Group Discussion (FGD), key informant interview and household’s interview by using semi-structured questionnaires. A total of 184 sample households were interviewed. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the collected data using STATA version 14. The study finds out that East Shewa Zone practices rain feed and irrigation based cropping systems. Irrigation based crop production system that dominated by onion-tomato based production system and rain-fed based farming system which classified into maize-Teff based and haricot bean-chickpea based production systems. Major agricultural production constraints within the crop production systems of Zone are identified and the possible policy implications are suggested to solve the identified problems.Abstract: Crop production is a complex combination of inputs which influenced by environmental, economical, institutional, political and social factors. Targeted extension for heterogeneous farming systems is a challenge in developing countries. Crop production characterization based on agro-ecology, production system and different farm components helps to i...Show More
Abstract: Spatiotemporal assessment of climate elements in response to solar radiation changes is vital for understanding the interaction between solar energy budget and climate over Nigeria. In this work, the spatio-temporal assessment of climate changes in response to solar radiation budget was done using regression and correlation analysis on satellite remote sensing and gridded observation data. The satellite data sets include; the Top Net Solar radiation data, obtained from European Medium Range Weather Forecast Reanalysis version 5 data set (ERA5) and Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface (ERSST) data set. The gridded observation climate data sets were obtained from Climate Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. The 250 x 250 m Digital Elevation data sets were obtained from Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM). Results showed the Top net solar radiation (J/m2), precipitation and temperature indicated trends (R-square values) of 8643.9 (0.08), -0.287 (0.06) and 0.019 (0.26) per year respectively. The correlation between Top net radiation and temperature shows, 7, 2 and 91% pixels to be negatively, zero and positively correlated while the correlation between Top net radiation and precipitation shows, 71, 8 and 21% pixels respectively to be negatively, zero and positively correlated. Results shows that there was no direct relationship between Elnino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) but arguably, temperature showed indirect relationship with Top net solar radiation. Also, residual analysis was applied to delineate areas that have no direct relationship between radiation and climate parameters.Abstract: Spatiotemporal assessment of climate elements in response to solar radiation changes is vital for understanding the interaction between solar energy budget and climate over Nigeria. In this work, the spatio-temporal assessment of climate changes in response to solar radiation budget was done using regression and correlation analysis on satellite re...Show More
