Rainfall modelling can predict future yields. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R8088: Promotion of and support to the use of the Parched Thirst Model V2.1 in East Africa, and development of Version 2.2.
PARCHED THIRST (PT) is a decision-support tool that addresses the challenges of low and unreliable crop and livestock production in semi-arid areas. Unlike most other models, PT includes the effect of the weather, water management and soil variability on cereal crop yields. Planners can therefore use it to estimate food deficits or surplus, and so anticipate their import or export strategies. The model is currently used by the Early Warning Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and by agricultural extension offices and training institutes in several areas of Tanzania. It is also used for research and teaching in Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Greece, the UK and the USA. It is available for download from websites in Tanzania, UK and Belgium.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (13 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
NRSP13, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 82.