The analysis of daily rainfall data (a case of Nyankpala)
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Date
2009-08-23
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Abstract
The Northern Savanna Zone of Ghana is mostly semiarid. The irregular onset and distribution of the rains in this part of Ghana makes interpretation of agronomic experiments difficult. This work seeks to determine the optimum time of planting of maize in relationship with the length of the growing season in the Northern Savanna zone of Ghana.
Several statistical methods have been proposed for the analysis of rainfall data. In recent years one of the most popular methodologies are the use of Markov chains and Gamma distribution.
Markov chains are fitted to the occurrence of rain, and gamma distribution with parameters which vary with-the time of year, used to fit the rainfall amounts.
By relating climatic data analysis which incorporate soil factors for over 51 years (1953- 2003) daily rainfall data to a maize cropping system, the planting time for maize in this area were determined. Results indicated that the growing season varied between 122 to 223 days. The best planting time for maize was found to be during the last two weeks of May in order to meet the moisture requirements during flowering and growing period lengths.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Mathematics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.