Maize Stover Biomass Gap in Ethiopia (Map), 2004-2010

The stover biomass for maize across the Ethiopia has been estimated using crop model LINTUL5 embedded into the modeling framework SIMPLACE (Scientific Impact Assessment and Modelling Platform for Advanced Crop and Ecosystem Management. The stover biomass gap of a crop grown in a certain location and cropping system is defined as the difference between the stover biomass under optimum management and the average stover biomass achieved by farmers. Stover biomass under optimum management is labeled as potential biomass (Bp) under irrigated conditions or water-limited potential biomass (Bw) under rain-fed conditions.Bp is location specific because of the climate, and not dependent on soil properties assuming that the required water and nutrients are non-limiting and can be added through management. Thus, in areas without major soil constraints, Bp is the most relevant benchmark for irrigated systems. Whereas, for rain-fed crops, Bw, equivalent to water-limited potential biomass, is the most relevant benchmark. Both Bp and Bw are calculated for optimum planting dates, planting density and region-specific crop variety which is critical in determining the feasible growth duration, particularly in tropical climatic conditions where two or even three crops are produced each year on the same field.

Purpose: To increase food production, identifying the regions with untapped production capacity is of prime importance and can be achieved by quantitative and spatially explicit estimates of Biomass gaps, thus considering the spatial variation in environment and the production system.