Kathryn Nicklin

Postgraduate Student

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 34931
Email address: eekjn@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 11.121

Biography

Project details

Project title: Integrated crop-climate modelling for seasosnal prediction of yield in the Sahel

Supervisors: A. Challinor

Start date: 1 October 2008

Project description

Rainfed agriculture in the Sahel region of West Africa is vulnerable to variability in the West African Monsoon. A late onset, extended break periods after sowing, flooding or low rainfall can all significantly affect agricultural production. The main aim of my PhD is to develop a crop yield forecasting system for the Sahel. This will give advanced warning of crop failures and provide a tool for assessing different management strategies, thus enhancing food security and the capacity to adapt to climate variability.

The crop yield forecasting system will use the GLAM crop model together with the ECMWF forecasts. The existing groundnut version of GLAM will be used and a new sorghum version will be developed and tested. My project will assess the skill of yield predictions at various lead times and investigate methods to maximise this skill.

Finally, in order to assess the importance of crop-climate feedbacks, GLAM will be coupled to the ECMWF model. The resulting yield predictions will be compared to the off-line predictions to determine whether the inclusion of these feedbacks improves the simulation of crop yield.