Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia

Agriculture is one of the sectors that has greatly benefitted from the establishment of climate services. In Colombia, interannual climate variability can disrupt agricultural production, lower farmers' incomes and increase market prices. Increasing demand thus exists for agro-climatic services in t...

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Main Authors: Esquivel, Alejandra, Llanos Herrera, Lizeth, Agudelo, Diego, Prager, Steven D., Fernandes, Kátia, Rojas, Alexander, Valencia, Jhon Jairo, Ramírez Villegas, Julián Armando
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97569
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author Esquivel, Alejandra
Llanos Herrera, Lizeth
Agudelo, Diego
Prager, Steven D.
Fernandes, Kátia
Rojas, Alexander
Valencia, Jhon Jairo
Ramírez Villegas, Julián Armando
author_browse Agudelo, Diego
Esquivel, Alejandra
Fernandes, Kátia
Llanos Herrera, Lizeth
Prager, Steven D.
Ramírez Villegas, Julián Armando
Rojas, Alexander
Valencia, Jhon Jairo
author_facet Esquivel, Alejandra
Llanos Herrera, Lizeth
Agudelo, Diego
Prager, Steven D.
Fernandes, Kátia
Rojas, Alexander
Valencia, Jhon Jairo
Ramírez Villegas, Julián Armando
author_sort Esquivel, Alejandra
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Agriculture is one of the sectors that has greatly benefitted from the establishment of climate services. In Colombia, interannual climate variability can disrupt agricultural production, lower farmers' incomes and increase market prices. Increasing demand thus exists for agro-climatic services in the country. Fulfilling such demand requires robust and consistent approaches for seasonal climate forecasting. Here, we assess seasonal precipitation predictability and forecast skill at agriculturally-relevant timescales for five departments that represent key growing areas of major staple crops (rice, maize, and beans). Analyses use Canonical Correlation Analysis, with both observed SSTs and modeled (NCEP-CFSv2) SSTs, as well as with CFSv2 predicted precipitation fields (through a Model-Output-Statistics analysis). Some 74.4% of the forecast situations analyzed (5 departments ∗ 4 seasons ∗ 3 predictors ∗ 3 lead times) showed correlation-based goodness index (Kendall’s tau, ) values above 0.1, 38.8% above 0.2, and 18.8% above 0.3. Predictability was limited towards eastern Colombia, and during wet periods of the year in the Inter-Andean Valleys. Importantly, results were consistent between ERSST and CFSv2-driven forecasts, implying that both can offer valuable outlooks for Colombia. While our study is a first important step toward the establishment of a sustainable and successful climate service for agriculture in Colombia, further work is required to (1) improve seasonal forecast skill; (2) link seasonal forecasts to agricultural modelling applications; (3) design appropriate delivery means; and (4) establish stakeholder-driven processes that allow two-way communication between forecast issuing institutions (e.g. IDEAM–Colombian Meteorological Service) and famers’ organizations and farming communities.
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spelling CGSpace975692025-03-13T09:44:55Z Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia Esquivel, Alejandra Llanos Herrera, Lizeth Agudelo, Diego Prager, Steven D. Fernandes, Kátia Rojas, Alexander Valencia, Jhon Jairo Ramírez Villegas, Julián Armando climate change cambio climático agricultural production producción de productos agrícolas forecasting técnicas de predicción simulation modelling modelos de simulación Agriculture is one of the sectors that has greatly benefitted from the establishment of climate services. In Colombia, interannual climate variability can disrupt agricultural production, lower farmers' incomes and increase market prices. Increasing demand thus exists for agro-climatic services in the country. Fulfilling such demand requires robust and consistent approaches for seasonal climate forecasting. Here, we assess seasonal precipitation predictability and forecast skill at agriculturally-relevant timescales for five departments that represent key growing areas of major staple crops (rice, maize, and beans). Analyses use Canonical Correlation Analysis, with both observed SSTs and modeled (NCEP-CFSv2) SSTs, as well as with CFSv2 predicted precipitation fields (through a Model-Output-Statistics analysis). Some 74.4% of the forecast situations analyzed (5 departments ∗ 4 seasons ∗ 3 predictors ∗ 3 lead times) showed correlation-based goodness index (Kendall’s tau, ) values above 0.1, 38.8% above 0.2, and 18.8% above 0.3. Predictability was limited towards eastern Colombia, and during wet periods of the year in the Inter-Andean Valleys. Importantly, results were consistent between ERSST and CFSv2-driven forecasts, implying that both can offer valuable outlooks for Colombia. While our study is a first important step toward the establishment of a sustainable and successful climate service for agriculture in Colombia, further work is required to (1) improve seasonal forecast skill; (2) link seasonal forecasts to agricultural modelling applications; (3) design appropriate delivery means; and (4) establish stakeholder-driven processes that allow two-way communication between forecast issuing institutions (e.g. IDEAM–Colombian Meteorological Service) and famers’ organizations and farming communities. 2018-12 2018-10-04T16:18:05Z 2018-10-04T16:18:05Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97569 en Open Access Elsevier Esquivel, Alejandra; Llanos-Herrera, Lizeth; Agudelo, Diego; Prager, Steven D.; Fernandes, Katia; Rojas, Alexander; Valencia, Jhon Jairo & Ramirez-Villegas, Julian. (2018). Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia. Climate Services, (March), 1-12 p.
spellingShingle climate change
cambio climático
agricultural production
producción de productos agrícolas
forecasting
técnicas de predicción
simulation modelling
modelos de simulación
Esquivel, Alejandra
Llanos Herrera, Lizeth
Agudelo, Diego
Prager, Steven D.
Fernandes, Kátia
Rojas, Alexander
Valencia, Jhon Jairo
Ramírez Villegas, Julián Armando
Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia
title Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia
title_full Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia
title_fullStr Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia
title_short Predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in Colombia
title_sort predictability of seasonal precipitation across major crop growing areas in colombia
topic climate change
cambio climático
agricultural production
producción de productos agrícolas
forecasting
técnicas de predicción
simulation modelling
modelos de simulación
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/97569
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