Impact of predicted changes in rainfall and atmospheric carbon dioxide on maize and wheat yields in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

This study assesses potential impacts of climate change on maize and wheat yields in the Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia. We considered effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and changes in rainfall during the main (Kiremt) and the short (Belg) rainfall cropping seasons during the two future periods (2020–2049 and 2066–2095). The MarkSimGCM daily weather generator was used to generate projected rainfall and temperature data using the outputs from ECHAM5 general circulation model and ensemble mean of six models under A2 (high) and B1 (low) emission scenarios. Crop yield simulations were made with the FAO’s AquaCrop model. The projected rainfall during Kiremt increases by 12–69 % while rainfall during Belg decreases by 20–68 %. The combined effect of elevated CO2 and projected climate factors increases maize yield by up to 59 % in sub-humid/humid areas of the CRV, but could result in a decrease of up to 46 % in the semiarid areas under ECHAM5 model. However, the maize yield increases in all parts of the CRV under the ensemble mean of models. Wheat yield shows no significant response to the projected rainfall changes, but increases by up to 40 % due to elevated CO2. Our results generally suggest that climate change will increase crop yields in the sub-humid/humid regions of the CRV. However, in the semi-arid parts the overall projected climate change will affect crop yields negatively.