Exploring the relationship between rainfall characteristic and the yield of Irish potato on the Jos Plateau Nigeria

Abstract

The research analyses rainfall characteristics on the yield of Irish potato on the Jos Plateau. Secondary data on climatic elements was  obtained from Nigerian Meteorological Agency Abuja while crop yield data was abstracted from the official records of Federal Ministry of  Agricultural and Rural Development, Abuja. Both climatic and crop data were obtained for the period of 30 years (1988 – 2017). The  research made use of correlation and regression analysis to establish the relationship between rainfall characteristics and yield of irish  potatoe. Mean annual rainfall of 1245mm, length of raining season of 173 days, seasonality index of 0.94, onset date of rains 14th April  and cessation of 3rd October are established mean rainfall values established in the study. Results obtain shows that length of raining  season exhibit a strong positive relationship with the yield of Irish potato with a correlation coefficient = 0.727 with a significant level at  0.01% confidence level. The Onset date also exhibited a negative and strong relationship with the yield of Irish potato with r value of  -0.521. The combined effect of rainfall was found to be significantly strong on the yield of Irish with a correlation coefficient of 0.791 and a  coefficient of determinant r² = 62.5%,the research therefore concludes that the final yield of crops is not entirely dependent on total  annual rainfall, rather on the overall characteristic of the rainfall. It is therefore recommended that further researches be conducted with  respect to phenological growth stages of crops and their climatic requirements at the growth stages.