Spatial variation of crop yield response to climate change in East Africa

Article Review

In the article, “Spatial variation of crop yield response to climate change in East Africa,” authors Thornton, Jones, Alagarswamy and Andresen undertake a study on the effects of climate change in east Africa on some crops. The study seeks to find out the level of effect on crops, maize and beans, by the climatic change. Researches conducted have focused on the general effects of climatic change on crops and agriculture as a whole as well as food security. The authors suggest that these researches have probably not provided the best results since they are merely general. The article cites the method and means they used to come up with their findings and conclusions. The research uses a high-resolution methodology of assessing detailed simulation models for maize and beans. The methodology used is scientific and makes use of technology for observation of the simulated climate to observe the response of the crops to different variations of weather. The aim of the research is clearly defined, which is to find out the response of maize and beans to different climate (Thornton, Jones, Alagarswamy and Andresen. 56).

The article presents its findings and results with clarity, enabling the reader to understand. Additionally, the conclusion matches the results of the study. The study provides statistical materials as well as diagrams for presenting some of its findings and results considering it used simulated climate, which makes it an experiment. The article also provides diagrams of geographic areas whose climates were simulated. Results are also represented on graphs and diagrams as well as tables for easier correlations. This makes understanding of the results easier since they are compared to each other to draw conclusions and findings of the study. This makes the research quite usable without needing much professional help. Thus, one can see one of the effects of climatic change in a practical example

On the other hand, the research makes a 50-year prediction of the effect of climate on agriculture, specifically for the two crops tested, maize and beans. With high-resolution equipments, making simulations of weather as predicted for the next 50 years does not seem hard at all. However, it should be noted that such prediction could not be fully relied on, since there are many factors and variables in the climate in other ways than expected. Thus, this cannot provide a hundred percent guarantee. However, the prediction provides an insight to people on how to prevent such effects, and farmers could focus on increasing the adaptive capacity to get the best out of the climate. The author cites that communities in Africa should take advantage of the climatic conditions that favor increased production of crops.

The results of the study conclude that there is no need of having large adjacent domain for development of the agriculture. Rather, the small-scale farmers through community-based efforts can improve through learning to adapt to the climate and taking advantage of good climate when it favors high production. From this information, one can realize that despite climatic changes, farmers can adapt to the climate and make good use of it when it favors them.

The article is quite helpful and easy to understand. The author arranges the research into sections, providing the reader with a chance to scheme through the work easily. More so, the results and data are well represented in tabular form for correlation to realize a trend or relationship between the variables. The article provides the reader with good information concerning the effect of climate on agriculture in east Africa. However, considering climatic change is happening all over the world, one may realize that Africa does not suffer from poor agriculture solely du to climate. Rather, due to lack of proper agriculture and adopting to the climate, as evidenced by the article that suggests local effort is enough to boost agriculture.

Work cited

Thornton K. Philip, Jones G. Peter, Alagarswamy Gapal, and Andresen Jeff. Spatial variation of crop yield response to climate change in East Africa. Global Environmental Change, 19. 1 (2009): 54-65. Print.