The first map indicates the total rainfall amount from 1st to 31st August. Data is extracted from FAO field reports and the RainFall Estimate (RFE) Satellite Imagery as produced by NOAA/USGS/FEWS/USAID project. The RFE images are obtained by interpolating various parameters recorded on the ground and obtained through remote sensing measurements such as: rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed, elevation, cold cloud temperatures.

WEST AFRICA - Cropping Season 2002
Total rainfall (mm) from 1st to 31st August

The map below shows the forecasted yield of millet for the Sahelian countries for the 2002 cropping season, as a percentage of the average yield of the last five years (1997-2001). The map is obtained by applying to each country a yield function which relates, in a statistical way for the period 1982 to 2001, the output parameters from the FAO crop specific water balance model to the crop yield. For 2002, the water balance model is using average rainfall from 1st September to the end of the crop cycle.

WEST AFRICA - Cropping Season 2002
Millet Yield Forecast as at 31st August

Data source: NOAA, FAO - Prepared by: FAO/SDRN, Agrometeorology Group