| Title: |
Evaluation of climate change impacts on rain-fed crop production in the Wami-Ruvu basin of Tanzania |
| Contributors: |
Djolov, George D.; Botai, J.O. (Joel Ongego); Luhunga, Philbert Modest |
| Publisher Information: |
University of Pretoria |
| Publication Year: |
2017 |
| Collection: |
University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
| Subject Terms: |
UCTD |
| Description: |
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. ; Agriculture is the primary source of development for most countries in Africa, including Tanzania, where the sector contributes to about 50% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The sector also employs about 80% of the labour force, contributes to about 30% of export earnings and 65% of raw materials for domestic industries. However, due to climate change the sector has performed very poorly in recent years, such that its contribution to the national economy and food security in Tanzania has not been realized. The main aim of this thesis was to evaluate the impacts of climate change on rainfed maize production in the Wami-Ruvu basin of Tanzania. Four research objectives have been analysed. The first evaluated the performance of the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment Regional climate models (CORDEX RCMs) in simulating present climate condition of Tanzania, the second objective assessed the impact of climate change on rainfed maize production in the Wami-Ruvu basin of Tanzania using a process-based crop model the Decision Support System for Agro-technological Transfer (DSSAT). This model was driven by high-resolution climate change simulations for current climate condition (1971-2000) as well as future climate projections (2010-2039), (2040-2069) and (2070-2099) for two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs): RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. These data were obtained from three CORDEX RCMs driven by three different General Circulation Models (GCMs). The third objective assessed the performance of moist potential vorticity (MPV) and moist potential vorticity vector (MPVV) in describing long term annual cycles of rainfall in Tanzania, and the fourth objective evaluated the possibility of using moist potential vorticity vector (MPVV) for diagnosis of heavy rainfall events in Tanzania. The findings of the first objective are that CORDEX RCMs capture the annual cycle of minimum temperature (TN), maximum temperature (TX) and rainfall well, however, underestimate and ... |
| Document Type: |
thesis |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
A2017; http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60824 |
| Availability: |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60824 |
| Rights: |
© 2017 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.4B9A41C5 |
| Database: |
BASE |