Production : Biophysical Context : Introduction to Biophysical Context

China / © Panda Fung

Introduction to Biophysical Context

More than practically every other major livelihood, the feasibility and attractiveness of farming is highly conditioned by its biophysical context. This is particularly so for poor smallholders who have insufficient income and assets to either ameliorate production constraints in marginal environments or leverage higher productivity potential in more favorable environments. We describe the five core groups of biophysical data utilized by HarvestChoice in its characterization and analysis of production conditions;

• Terrain. Elevation, slope, aspect and drainage structure play important roles in influencing the macro and micro conditions to support production.
• Weather and Climate. We compile and utilize daily and monthly data on rainfall, temperature, radiation, humidity and windspeed to help assess broad crop suitability, potential pest and disease prevalence, and location specific yield estimation.
• Soils. HarvestChoice uses several sources of soil data in a number of ways: simple categories of soil types, indicators of soil fertility, and mapping unit or point-based soil attributes at multiple depth layers.
• Agroecological Zones. Agroecological zones provide consolidated information on climate, temperature and humidity and serve as a useful tool for assessing the use of land and its resources. For HarvestChoice we are able to report production, population, extent of cultivation, market access, and other measured variables across natural environs as opposed to reporting solely based on country boundaries.
• Land Cover. Land cover data is used to identify where agricultural activity, and specifically crop cultivation, is taking place. We use several satellite based land cover datasets to identify the area extent and intensity of cropland.

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