• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2017

Climate change phenomenon is posing a serious threat to sustainable corn production in Ghana. This study investigated the impacts of climate change on the rain-fed corn yield in the Dangme East district, Ghana by using Aquacrop model with a daily weather data set of 22-year from 1992 to 2013. Analysis of the weather data showed that the area is facing a warming trend as the numbers of years hotter and drier than the normal seemed to be increasing. Aquacrop model was assessed using the limited observed data to verify model's sufficiency, and showed credible results of $R^2$ and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE). In order to simulate the corn yield response to climate variability four climate change scenarios were designed by varying long-term average temperature in the range of ${\pm}1^{\circ}C{\sim}{\pm}3^{\circ}C$ and average annual rainfall to ${\pm}5%{\sim}{\pm}30%$, respectively. Generally, the corn yield was negatively correlated to temperature rise and rainfall reduction. Rainfall variations showed more prominent impacts on the corn yield than that of temperature variations. The reduction in average rainfall would instantly limit the crop growth rate and the corn yield irrespective of the temperature variations.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.199-199
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• 2017

Sustainable wheat production is of paramount importance for attaining/maintaining the food self-sufficiency status of the rapidly growing nation of Pakistan. However, the average wheat yield per unit area has been dwindling in recent years and the climate-induced variations in rainfall patterns and temperature regimes, during the wheat growth period, are believed to be the reason behind this decline. Crop growth simulation models are powerful tools capable of playing pivotal role in evaluating the climate change impacts on crop yield or productivity. This study was aimed to predict the plausible variations in the wheat yield for future climatic trends so that possible mitigation strategies could be explored. For this purpose, Aquacrop model v. 4.0 was employed to simulate the wheat yield under present and future climatology of the largest agricultural province of Punjab in Pakistan. The data related to crop phenology, management and yield were collected from the experimental plots to calibrate and validate the model. The future climate projections were statistically downscaled from five general circulation models (GCMs) and compared with the base line climate from 1980 to 2010. The model was fed with the projected climate to simulate the wheat yield based on the RCP (representative concentration pathways) 4.5 and 8.5. Under the worst, most likely future scenario of temperature rise and rainfall reduction, the crop yield decreased and water footprint, especially blue, increased, owing to the elevated irrigation demands due to accelerated evapotranspiration rates. The modeling results provided in this study are expected to provide a basic framework for devising policy responses to minimize the climate change impacts on wheat production in the area.