P8: Inter- and transdisciplinary data center to improve agricultural practice and management, and to predict extreme events

Description

In the age of the climate crisis, the Horn of Africa will be affected by rising temperatures and a sharp increase in extreme weather events. Further increases in extreme temperatures in the desert regions in the north and southeast of Ethiopia are expected. In the regions affected by the rainy season, the acceleration of the water cycle over the tropics will result in more frequent and more intense rainfall events. These extreme weather events often lead to harmful impacts on agricultural production and rural livelihoods. It is therefore important to prepare people of Ethiopia and to take measures that are likely to reduce the vulnerability and increase resilience to these events. Precise weather forecasts and early warning systems will be essential to adapt to changing weather conditions and to minimize the threats of climate losses. In the future, this information may help farmers plan sowing based on the predicted rainfall, select plants that are best suited to the predicted seasonal conditions, plan fertilizer use to ensure effective nutrient uptake, and the timely planning of the harvest, under the predicted dry conditions, to avoid losses after the harvest. This contributes to the climate smart development of agriculture (http://www.fao.org/climate-smart-agriculture/en/). Data access and data provision are often lacking at HEIs in developing countries but are a prerequisite for valuable solution-oriented inter- and transdisciplinary research activities. Modelling approaches in the field of accurate predictions are based on extensive data sets.

An important part of these activities is to provide all participating scientists with access to important scientific and statistical data. The focus is on the use of advanced satellite data, which can be used to record the development of the soil, vegetation, and atmospheric conditions in all seasons and across all regions that are important for agriculture. In the future, this information may help farmers plan sowing based on the predicted rainfall, select plants that are best suited to the predicted seasonal conditions, plan fertilizer use to ensure effective nutrient uptake, and the timely planning of the harvest, under the predicted dry conditions, to avoid losses after the harvest.

Fortunately, data has been available in recent years through the Land-SAF project and the Copernicus system of the EU (https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/data), and various other individual sources. At the same time, it is important to collect and interpret the new generation of global seasonal forecasts available from the UK Met Office and the ECMWF. When these data and forecasts are available, their information content can be analyzed and forwarded to agricultural centers and the farmers to optimize agricultural management during extreme weather events. It is therefore time to push ahead the dissemination of these sources of information to achieve the sustainable importance of CLIFOOD in strong collaboration with the partners of HU.

The first inter- and transdisciplinary data center will be set up by the participating postdoctoral researcher at the HU, which consists of a server with a large storage system (up to 10 TB) to provide and store relevant scientific and statistical data to scientists working in the research areas of climate change and food security. In a first step, the scientific data management system will be set up at the HU, which includes suitable internet links to satellite data centers and to the UHOH in relation to the forecast products. In a second step, all other scientifically relevant data records, e.g., data to improve agricultural practices as a precaution against extreme weather events. The data center is intended to support analyzes and related research fields regarding the development of solutions by scientists. In addition, the data center serves as a data hub for the first and second phases of CLIFOOD, so that data can be exchanged between the PIs without any problems.

Involved persons

• Prof. Dr. Tesfaye Abebe Amdie
• Prof. Dr.  Volker Wulfmeyer
• Dr. Abebe Kebede Habtegabriel

Involved institutions

• School of Plant and Horticultural Sciences, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University
• Institute of Physics and Meteorology (120), Physics and Meteorology (120a), The University of Hohenheim

Sponsors

Supported by the DAAD program Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)