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Climate risk financing programs in agriculture have caught the attention of researchers and policy makers over the last decade. Weather index insurance has emerged as a promising market-based risk financing mechanism. However, to develop a suitable weather index insurance mechanism it is essential to incorporate the distribution of underlying weather and climate risks to a specific event model that can minimize intra-seasonal basis risk. In this paper we investigate the erratic nature of rainfall patterns in Kenya using CHIRPS rainfall data from 1983-2017. We find that the patterns of rainfall are fractional, both erratic and persistent which is consistent with the Noah and Joseph effects well known in mathematics. The erratic nature of rainfall emerges from the breakdown of the convergence to a normal distribution. Instead we find that the distribution about the average is approximately lognormal, with an almost 50% higher chance of deficit rainfall below the mean versus adequate rainfall above the mean. We find that the rainfall patterns obey Hurst law and the measured Hurst coefficients for seasonal rainfall pattern across all years range from a low of 0.137 to a high above 0.685. To incorporate the erratic and persistent nature of seasonal rainfall, we develop a new approach to weather index insurance based upon the accumulated rainfall in any 21-day period falling below 60% of the long-term average for that same 21-day period. We argue that this approach is more satisfactory to matching drought conditions within and between various phenological stages of growth.

The pepper has a relatively large share in the general structure of the vegetable production in Bulgaria. The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of biofertiliser Emosan (HemoZym NK, Hemozym Bio N5) in combination with biofertilisers Lumbrical and Boneprot, as well as the influence of certain agrometeorological conditions on the phenological growth of pepper cv. ‘Sofiiska Kapiya’. This experiment was carried out in 2009 – 2011 on the experimental fields of the Agroecological Centre at the Agricultural University Plovdiv (Bulgaria). The pepper was grown using existing technology for mid-early field production, according to the principles of organic agriculture. The agroclimatic characteristics were taken on the basis of data of twenty-four-hour performance of meteorological factors. In the three years of the experiment the temperature conditions during the period of active vegetation of the pepper (June - July - August) were above the average, which was in conjunction with the global trends. The application of biofertiliser Emosan, in combination with basic fertilization with biofertilisers Boneprot and Lumbrical and under the impact of suitable agrometeorological conditions, had a positive impact on the pepper plants. Pepper plants showed earlier entry into the main phenophases under field conditions of organic farming.

This report summarizes the climate and soil requirements of the major, economically important crops in Canada. It was compiled through an extensive search of the literature, using the services of Biological Abstracts Reviews, Science Citation and Source Index, and Agricola. Also various books, government reports, bulletins and announcements on agricultural crops were examined. Approximately 2000 references were reviewed, and 169 selected for the report. Those not selected reported research work that was too specific or detailed to have application in field crops production. The report gives detailed descriptions of the light, heat, water and soil requirements of each crop, in so far as these data are available from the literature. Specific requirements at various phenological growth stages are also reported. References for the information presented for each crop are given and listed in the bibliography at the end of the report. This report lists the environmental (field) conditions necessary for the successful, long term cultivation of given crops. It is intended as a reference manual for those evaluating or recommending particular crops under given conditions of climate and soil. Crop management requirements, however, are not listed, and the reader is refered to other sources for this information.