Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research
 

Academic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Research 

Vol. 5(2), pp. 134-139. March, 2017.

ISSN: 2360-7874 

 DOI: 10.14662/ARJASR2017.006

Full Length Research

Characterization of Rainfall Indices for Crop Production in Kersa District, Eastern Ethiopia: Farmers’ Advisory

Eba Muluneh Sorecha¹, Birhanu Bayissa² and Tessema Toru³

^{1, 2, 3} School of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box: 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

Corresponding author: ebamule1@gmail.com

Accepted 24 March 2017

The study was conducted in Kersa district, eastern Ethiopia to characterize the rainfall indices for crop production. Thirty four years of rainfall data were collected from National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia. INSTAT+v 3.37 software was employed to analyze the data. Whereas, Mann-Kendall trend test was used to determine the trend of rainfall in the area. The results indicated that Kersa district received 869 mm/year over the last three decades; of this, Kiremt season contributed 58% and Belg season contributed 30.5%. The onset of Kiremt and Belg season rainfall was on average 175 Days of the Year (DOY) and 94 DOY, respectively. Kiremt season ceases at 282 DOY, and Belg season ceases at 170 DOY. Length of growing period for Kiremt season ranges from 18 to 151 days, with high CV value of 29%. The annual and seasonal rainfall showed a decreasing trend as per the Mann-Kendall trend test, though not statistically significant. The decrement for annual, Kiremt, and Belg season rainfall was estimated to be 10, 7, and 3 mm/yr, respectively. The district was mostly under a dry period as per anomaly index. Overall, characterization of rainfall plays a key role to improve the farmer’s livelihood through awareness creation. The study encourages other similar studies to be conducted on temperature.

Key words: characterization, Rainfall indices, Seasons, Farmers advisory

 

How to cite this article: Sorecha EM, Bayissa B, Toru T (2017). Characterization of Rainfall Indices for Crop Production in Kersa District, Eastern Ethiopia: Farmers’ Advisory. Acad. Res. J. Agri. Sci. Res. 5(2): 134-139

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