Knowledge Center Catalog

Characterizing drought patterns for appropriate development and transfer of drought resistant maize cultivars in Uganda

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: Nairobi (Kenya) KARI|CIMMYT : 2002Description: p. 260-262ISBN:
  • 970-648-120-6
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 338.16 FRI
Summary: Drought during past years has been frequent in most of the maize growing zones of Uganda. Farmers lack precise information on the frequency, severity and probability of occurrence of this phenomenon. This exacerbates its impact on maize yield. Daily climate data series obtained from the Department of Meteorology in Uganda were analyzed using INSTAT to generate this information. The length of the growing season is the difference between the dates of onset and cessation of the rains. Dry spells during the growing season were defined as >7 days (loam soil), > 5 days (sandy soil), > 10 days (clay soil) and are prevalent in the transitional areas. The relationship between evapotranspiration and rainfall was also used to delineate favourable growing periods. Generated climatic information was used to fit the growth cycles of different maize varieties defined by their Kc values. Farmers produce low on the production curve due to a mismatch between the two peaks of secure rains and crop water requirement stages as a result of seasonal variability. Farmers have to plant during the defined planting windows if the peak crop water requirement stages have to match with the peak secure rains for sustainable outputs.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Drought during past years has been frequent in most of the maize growing zones of Uganda. Farmers lack precise information on the frequency, severity and probability of occurrence of this phenomenon. This exacerbates its impact on maize yield. Daily climate data series obtained from the Department of Meteorology in Uganda were analyzed using INSTAT to generate this information. The length of the growing season is the difference between the dates of onset and cessation of the rains. Dry spells during the growing season were defined as >7 days (loam soil), > 5 days (sandy soil), > 10 days (clay soil) and are prevalent in the transitional areas. The relationship between evapotranspiration and rainfall was also used to delineate favourable growing periods. Generated climatic information was used to fit the growth cycles of different maize varieties defined by their Kc values. Farmers produce low on the production curve due to a mismatch between the two peaks of secure rains and crop water requirement stages as a result of seasonal variability. Farmers have to plant during the defined planting windows if the peak crop water requirement stages have to match with the peak secure rains for sustainable outputs.

English

0410|AGRIS 0401|AL-Maize Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection


International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) © Copyright 2021.
Carretera México-Veracruz. Km. 45, El Batán, Texcoco, México, C.P. 56237.
If you have any question, please contact us at
CIMMYT-Knowledge-Center@cgiar.org