Go back to Agricultural
meteorology in the Caribbean
by Mr. Adrian
Trotman, Agrometeorologist at the Caribbean
Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH). (The
article was originally published in "The Advisory", The 35th Anniversary
Edition of the CIMH, 2002.)
“Agricultural meteorology is
concerned with the interactions between meteorological and hydrological factors,
on the on hand, and agriculture in the widest sense, including horticulture,
animal husbandry and forestry, on the other hand.
Its objective is to discover and define such effects, and then to apply
knowledge of the atmosphere to practical agricultural use.”1
The aim of the
science is to maximize agricultural production with minimal costs while at the
same time preserving our environment. Just
about every aspect of agriculture is influenced by the weather, whether directly
or indirectly. In a ‘nutshell’,
agricultural meteorology deals with the impacts of weather and climate on any
aspect of agriculture whether it be the response of crops in the field,
livestock behaviour and response, suitability of animal and harvest storage
houses, adequate availability of soil moisture, modification of climate (as in
irrigation, soil drainage, shelterbelts, plant houses, mulches etc.),
suitability of conditions for aerial spraying or the virulence of pests and
diseases, to mention a few.
It is well accepted that in our
region the most limiting factor on our agricultural production is water.
From a recently completed survey and a seminar/workshop held in the year
2000 in Barbados, it is clear that our farmers and meteorologists are aware of
the important roles of rainfall and evaporation in our agriculture.
Many farmers have highlighted the need for information on rainfall,
particularly the forecasts and monthly and seasonal outlooks for activity
planning.
The desire of farmers is for the
forecasts and outlooks to be expressed in ways that are more meaningful to them.
Some have indicated the benefits of developing drought or dry spell
indices with the anticipation of being informed when crucial threshold levels
are being surpassed. Alongside these needs are those for irrigation quantities and
scheduling information. During the
dry season and at times during the wet, rainfall must be supplemented with
irrigation. In the more water
scarce
countries like Antigua and Barbados, it would be crucial not to irrigate with
more water than is necessary for maximum yield.
Plagued by market problems for
our traditional cash crops of sugar cane and banana, our policy makers are
forced to look at diversifying our agriculture. In so doing, advice on species introduction suitable to our
climatic conditions is being sought by various institutions.
Policy may dictate that crops and/or animal husbandry be zoned according
to rainfall and evaporation regimes (and to some extent temperature).
The bottom line is to make optimum use of our limited land space and
other resources.
More and more, our large farmers
and estates are requesting estimates of potential yield based largely on, of
course, weather conditions. For the
sugar industry in Barbados, for example, it would be an asset knowing how close
its industry can get to achieving its vital quota on the European market.
Yield estimation can involve almost all meteorological parameters.
In some parts of the region
temperature information is important. Belize
has concerns of intrusion of cold fronts, which bring with them cold air, with
the potential for damage to crops like citrus and banana.
Territories with crops at high elevations would also be interested in
temperature.
Climate change is on the tongues
of many; whether it is concern about sea level rise, change in rainfall and
other whether patters or the continued increase in carbon dioxide.
Small island states like ours and sub-sea level communities as in the
city of Georgetown, Guyana may well be heavily impacted by the impending rises
in sea level. With the subsequent
changes in weather patterns our agricultural systems will have to be modified to
adapt to these changes. The aim should be to develop robust and sustainable
agricultural systems which can withstand any changes and negative impacts of
these changes while at the same time be able to benefit from any positive
changes (maybe some of the changes in climate will be beneficial!). In spite of climate change, we have always been faced with a
variable climate (particularly rainfall) which influences our agriculture.
It may be important to analyze historical records of climate and
agriculture to see what has worked and what has not when our climate varied
anomalously and maybe, just maybe, this could be the first step in our
strategies to adapt to future global climate change.
In any event, agricultural policy makers and meteorologists/climatologists
must work together to develop meaningful strategies for our agricultural sector
to combat any effects of climate change.
The above applications of
meteorology in agriculture are by no means exhaustive.
Unfortunately, apart form Belize, agrometeorology has not played as
significant a role in our agriculture as its potential suggests.
This may be so for different reasons.
One reason we cannot ignore is that our national meteorological services
were established to provide information for aviation, and therefore are located
at or near airports. Services
naturally extended to information and forecasts for the general public. Our services, however, have been unable so far to venture
enough into providing routine information directly to resource sectors such as
agriculture. In order to provide
such services, meteorological personnel must be trained for these more specific
tasks. With the potential of this
area of meteorology, maybe the time has come.
1)
World Meteorological Organization (1981) 'Guide to Agricultural Meteorological
Practices'. WMO-No. 134.
|
yahoo.com with questions or comments
about this web site. Questions concerning material, copyright of which resides
outside of CIMH, should be directed to the institutions in question.