How does inter-annual variability of attainable yield affect the magnitude of yield gaps for wheat and maize? An analysis at ten sites

Hoffmann, Munir P.; Haakana, Markus; Asseng, Senthold; Höhn, Jukka; Palosuo, Taru; Ruiz‐Ramos, Margarita; Fronzek, Stefan; Ewert, Frank; Gaiser, Thomas; Kassie, Belay T.; Paff, Kirsten; Rezaei, Ehsan Eyshi; Rodríguez, Alfredo; Semenov, Mikhail A.; Srivastava, Amit Kumar; Stratonovitch, Pierre; Tao, Fulu; Chen, Y.; Rötter, Reimund P.

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2017.03.012

Cited by 36 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Some errors related to the gap between the simulated and observed value are mainly due to the level of variability between plots. An experiment under on-farm conditions with various treatments over several cropping seasons may be enough complex for crop production estimation because of the involvement of several factors like pests; heterogeneity within the crop management intensity, e.g., plant density; various interacting nutrient stresses such as micronutrients (Folberth et al 2014;Voortman et al 2003); and the soil physical discontinuities with the consequence of a huge (Hoffmann et al 2017). Nevertheless, the evaluation of the simulation model is on a good level being used as a decision support tool to evaluate the impact of usual fertilizer input rates on farmers' fields.…”

Section: Model Calibration and Evaluation For Maize Cultivar Massongomentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensifying Maize Production Under Climate Change Scenarios in Central West Burkina Faso

Worou

Tondoh

Sanou

et al. 2018

Handbook of Climate Change Resilience

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Section: Model Calibration and Evaluation For Maize Cultivar Massongomentioning

confidence: 99%

Intensifying Maize Production Under Climate Change Scenarios in Central West Burkina Faso

Worou

Tondoh

Sanou

et al. 2018

Handbook of Climate Change Resilience

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“…The largest yield gap over the global scale was projected for Africa across the major cereal crops (Mueller et al, 2013). The recorded yield in Africa reaches only 20 percent of the attainable yield in contrast to 56 to 84 percent of the attainable yield in European, Asian and North American sites (Hoffmann et al, 2017). The outsized yield gap in Africa could be explained by larger level of biotic and abiotic stressors, poor crop management (water and nutrient management), cultivar selection and socioeconomic constrains (Audebert and Fofana, 2009;Fermont et al, 2009;Mueller et al, 2013;Verdoodt et al, 2006).…”

Section: The Yield Gap Of Maize In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The nitrogen application rate for maize is restricted from 0 to 30 kg N ha -1 over Africa which is much smaller than other regions of the world (Mueller et al, 2013). Introducing new cultivars and improving the plant nutritional status could also be possible options to close the maize yield gap in Africa (Hoffmann et al, 2017). Nitrogen limitation was the main limiting factor of maize yield and changing the phosphorus application rate had no significant impact on maize yield in Togo (Wopereis et al, 2006).…”

Section: The Possible Options To Close the Yield Gap Of Maize In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in Crop Management Strategies Could Double the Maize Yield in Africa

Rezaei

Gaiser

2017

SSRN Journal

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Change in cropping practices is required to address the food security issues in Africa. Yet, testing of the performance of such changes, in particular at large scales, often needs significant investments. Crop models are widely used tools to quantify the effects of agronomic decisions on cropping systems and to identify the most promising areas for their advancement and implementation. Here in this study we quantify the impacts of individual and combined change in management scenarios including changes in (i) rates of nitrogen application, (ii) supplementary irrigation and (iii) new cultivar (with higher radiation use efficiency) on maize cropping systems over Africa based on 30 years of climate, soil and management information obtained from global datasets at 0.5° x 0.5° spatial resolution. The crop model SIMPLACE was used in this study and it was tested against FAO statistics to evaluate the model performance under the current management conditions with traditional cultivars and average nitrogen application rates of <10 kg N ha -1 . The model results showed that the combined changes in crop management could improve the range of maize yield from 1.2 t ha -1 to 2.9 t ha -1 over the study period in Africa. The magnitude of the yield improvement is country and scenario specific. The largest maize yield improvements were obtained in the combined innovations rather than individual practices in particular for the supplementary irrigation. We conclude that it is essential to implement combined technology packages to fill the gap between attainable and current yield in Africa and that will require appropriate incentives, and investment in extension services, fertilizer distribution networks and farmer capacity strengthening. We also need to combine the results with a robust economic model to evaluate the benefits and risks of the required investments for such changes in crop management.

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“…In SSA, rainfed agriculture is a major activity for the economy and food security [2]. However, large yield gaps [3] and total harvest losses among farmers [4] are still prevalent. Rainfed agriculture is challenged by climate change, specifically low and erratic rainfall [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ongoing efforts address crop management challenges at different scales and provide recommendations [16][17][18][19][20]. However, there are reasons why efforts are not widely undertaken by farmers [3]. Among them is the fact that smallholder farmers-who occupy a large percent of cultivated land are limited by their ability to purchase the required inputs and adopt improved management options [21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Management Strategies of Pearl Millet Farmers to Cope with Seasonal Rainfall Variability in a Semi-Arid Agroclimate

et al. 2019

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Rainfed agriculture constitutes around 80% of the world’s agricultural land, achieving the lowest on-farm crop yields and greatest on-farm water losses. Much of this land is in developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where hunger is chronic. The primary constraint of rainfed agriculture—frequently experienced in SSA—is water scarcity, heightened by the unpredictability of season onset, erratic rainfall, as well as the inability of farmers to provide adequate soil and crop management. Farmers react differently to constraints, making a variety of choices—including the timing of planting, type of land cultivation, fertilization, and scattered fields, among many others. Limited information is available on the combined effects of these strategies for improving crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE). An experiment was co-conducted with farmers over four consecutive rainy seasons (2014–2018) in Tanzania, to evaluate these strategies for single and joint effects in improving yield and WUE on rainfed pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.). The treatments used were flat cultivation both without and with microdosing, as well as tied ridging without and with microdose interaction, with different planting dates depending on farmers’ decisions. Results show that farmers react differently to the early, normal, or late onset of the rainy season, and cumulative rainfall during its onset, which affects their decisions regarding planting dates, yield, and WUE. Microdose fertilization increases both the yield and WUE of pearl millet significantly, with greater effects obtained using tied ridging compared to flat cultivation. For low-income smallholder farmers in a semi-arid agroclimate, using tied ridging with microdosing during early planting is an effective response to spatiotemporal rainfall variability and poor soils.

show abstract

How does inter-annual variability of attainable yield affect the magnitude of yield gaps for wheat and maize? An analysis at ten sites

Cited by 36 publications

References 51 publications

Intensifying Maize Production Under Climate Change Scenarios in Central West Burkina Faso

Intensifying Maize Production Under Climate Change Scenarios in Central West Burkina Faso

Change in Crop Management Strategies Could Double the Maize Yield in Africa

The Management Strategies of Pearl Millet Farmers to Cope with Seasonal Rainfall Variability in a Semi-Arid Agroclimate

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