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• Evaluation of crop and irrigation water requirements for some selected crops in Apulia region -Southern Italy

  39-50

  Mohannad Alobid

  István Szűcs

  Views:

  563

  Nowadays, nearly 90% of global water consumption is caused by irrigation activities, and more than 40% of the crops are produced under irrigated conditions. This study is an endeavour to estimate the irrigation water requirement (IWR) and crop water requirement (CWR) for some selected crops (Pepper, Eggplant, Potato, Soybean, Maize, Wheat Melon, Lettuce, Sunflower, Broadbean, Citrus, Cherry, Olive tree, Sugarbeet, Artichoke, Wine Grapes, Carrot...etc.) in Sothern Italy. The selected districts (Sant’ Arcangelo) have been taken as a case study area. Demanded meteorologically (rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours) and crop data (crop coefficient and crop calendar) have been collected for 30 years period from 1981 to 2011. FAO CROPWATv8.0 software has been applied for requisite calculation of CWR and IWR along with the developing of cropping patterns. The FAO Penman-Monteith equation is used for estimating the reference evapotranspiration (ET0) by using meteorological data in the framework of CROPWAT model as it regarded as a good evaluator for a wide variety of climatic conditions. The analysis indicates that FAO Penman-Monteith suits very well for the study area and can be successfully used for the estimation of reference evapotranspiration. The important results in this study indicate that the IWR is very low from November to April (wintertime) due to higher rainfall intensity in these months and from month May to October a considerable amount of water is required for irrigation.

  JEL Classification: Q25, Q24,Q10

• The effects of climate change on cereals yield of production and food security in Gambia

  83-92

  Alieu Loum

  Csaba Fogarassy

  Views:

  1054

  Increasingly, empirical evidences are substantiating the effects of climate change on agricultural production is a reality. In the early part of the 20th century many were skeptical about the so-called climate change that is due to global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) defines climate change as follows: “climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean or variability of its properties and that persists for extended periods, typically decades or longer” This study analyses the impact of climate change on cereals production (millet and maize) in the Gambia using a time series data for a period of 46 years (1960 – 2013) at an aggregate level to assess the relationship between climate (temperatures and rainfall,) and non-climate variables fertilizer, area planted respectively and yield. The specific objectives of the research are: (1) How climate change affects the expected cereals (Millet and Maize) output or yield in the Gambia. (2) How the level of output risk within cereals (Millet and Maize) farming is affected? In order to achieve these set objectives, the paper will adopt Just and Pope modified Ricardian production functions for climate change impact assessments (e.g., Chen et al. 2004), the paper will also control for the impacts of regular input factors in the production process. The study used a data set for the Gambia comprising variables relevant for cereals production and climate information from 1960 through 2013. There is strong evidence that climate will affects Maize and Millet; according to the analysis 77% and 44% of the variability in the yield of Maize and Millet respectively is explained by the climate and non-climate variables included in the model. Given the effects of climate variables on cereals production, and increasing climate change vulnerabilities on other food production section, the result of this paper will add voice to the growing call for policy makers to step up funding in research and development in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

  JEL classification: Q54