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Preparation of polygons for main crop growing areas in the country and define cropping practices and conditions
In order to do any meaningful crop forecasting, crop conditions should be take into consideration. First of all it needs to be clear where crops are grown. The crop growing areas will be digitized for use with the CM Box software. Secondly, some characteristics on crops related to local practices will have to be recorded.
Preparation of polygons for main crop growing areas
In the following example a map will be created in right format (BNA) of the millet growing area in India.
Far more extended software is available for digitizing maps. Even automatic digitization from bitmaps is possible. A very good freeware digitizing application called Wintopo, can be downloaded here: http://www.softsoft.net/wintopo/dl-wintopo.htm
Gathering other crop information
The FAO Water Balance model is using the following additional crop information:
- Planting dates. Planting dates occur rarely on the same dekad every year. However, in most circumstances it is possible to establish a “window of opportunity” for planting lasting 1 to 3 months. As an example, this window of opportunity for maize is October – December in large parts of Southern Africa.
- Irrigation. The water balance calculations are can take irrigation into account. If irrigation will be applied it needs to be clear how much. Possibilities are : a fixed amount in mm per dekad, different amounts for different dekads and an automatic amount of irrigation that prevents water stress.