Abstract

Agro-climatic zonation is very important for planning crop patterns and to bring out the agricultural potential of a region. It must be done based on a specific development objective and on a rational basis. The objective of the present study was to classify the Tana Beles sub-basins (TBSB) into homogenous agro-climatic patterns and assessing suitability for crops that could be growing in each Agro-climatic zone. The climate data for mean annual rainfall and temperatures for the period from 1970 to 2015 was downloaded from WorldClim2, and the DEM used to retrieve the altitude data has been obtained from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The methodology proposed by FAO with some local considerations was attempted to classify the Agro climate classes of the Tana Beles Sub basins. A decision tree classifier (DTC) of ENVI tools was used to classify the Agro-climatic parameters. During the process of zonation, we classified the TBSB into 6 thermal regimes and 3 rainfall distribution regimes that were overlaid over 6 altitudinal classes. Finally, the TBSB was classified into 9 agro climate zones (ACZs) as Moist Dega, Moist Kolla, Moist Wiena Dega, Moist Wurch, Wet Alpine Wurch, Wet Kolla, Wet Weina Dega, Wet Wurch, and Wet Dega. More than 80% of the ACZs in the TBSBS were identified as suitable for the main crops.

Key words: Agro climate zones (ACZ), crops, WorldClim2, decision tree classifier (DTC), Tana Beles sub- basins (TBSB).