An agro-climatological characterization of bread wheat production areas in Ethiopia

This report describes a GIS-based assessment of the distribution of wheat production in Ethiopia, with emphasis on climate factors limiting the potential wheat area and using mainly agro-climatological characteristics obtained from interpolated climate data contained in the Ethiopian Country Almanac. Results suggest that the greatest opportunity for expanding wheat production in Ethiopia would involve increasing the tolerance of wheat to warmer growing conditions but that other factors, including the adaptation of current and/or alternate crops, overall land-use suitability, and market constraints must be considered before moving wheat into new areas. Site similarity analyses further suggest that the current distribution of wheat research sites in Ethiopia provides a reasonable coverage of the traditional wheat production area in terms of climatic conditions, and support the relevance of the Kulumsa station for wheat research throughout much of Eastern and Southern Africa.