Assessment of measured and estimated meteorological data in terms of sorghum production on the example of Hamelmalo, Eritrea

Mehari Gebreyesus; Györgyi Kovács; Géza Tuba; Arzu Rivera-Garcia; József Zsembeli

doi:10.18380/SZIE.COLUM.2022.9.1.17

Authors

Mehari Gebreyesus Eritrea Institute of Technology, College of Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Mai Nefhi, P.O. Box 12676, Eritrea
Györgyi Kovács Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Karcag Research Institute, 5300 Karcag, Kisújszállási út 166., Hungary
Géza Tuba Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Karcag Research Institute, 5300 Karcag, Kisújszállási út 166., Hungary https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7356-4729
Arzu Rivera-Garcia Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Karcag Research Institute, 5300 Karcag, Kisújszállási út 166., Hungary
József Zsembeli Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Karcag Research Institute, 5300 Karcag, Kisújszállási út 166., Hungary https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1958-2584

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18380/SZIE.COLUM.2022.9.1.17

Keywords:

climate change, meteorological data, sorghum production, Eritrea

Abstract

Eritrea is exposed to climate variability and extreme events like drought and precipitation variability. Hamelmalo, a sub region in Eritrea, suffers from all the problems brought by climate change, especially because local people mainly depend on rainfed agriculture. I it is difficult to conduct climate related research activities for the region due to the shortage of meteorological data. However, in 2015, a new, complete meteorological station was established providing the chance of the first observations for practical and scientific purposes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate some climatic parameters from crop productional point of view by comparing the observed values with ones calculated by the Local Climate Estimator (LCE) model. Chi-square test was used to statistically analyse the differences. Based on the results, all the studied climatic parameters, except for precipitation, were almost on a par, which means there were no statistically significant differences between the observed and the estimated values. It can be concluded that the most variable climatic parameter in Hamelmalo is precipitation and this also affects the climatic water balance hence the need for irrigation if higher yields are wanted to be achieved. Sufficient water is vital in the mid-season and the late developmental stage of sorghum. Therefore, sowing time is advised to be adjusted to early July to ensure the maximum vegetative growth and seed setting period to be reached at the end of August in order to take the advantage of the positive climatic water balance of these two months.

Author Biography

József Zsembeli, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Karcag Research Institute, 5300 Karcag, Kisújszállási út 166., Hungary

Corresponding author, email: Zsembeli.Jozsef@uni-mate.hu

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