Assessing the Impact of Climate Change and Variability on Sorghum

There is hardly any doubt that climate plays a significant role in shaping the face of the earth and in determining, the type of economic activities, that man may practice. The realization of the man climate relationship has led to growing interest in the science of climatology especially in the tropical areas where the controls exerted by the various climate factors, such as the annual rainfall and temperature, are really vital and effective. The sorghum crop is sensitive to increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall. Although several studies have been undertaken to assess the general trends of temperature and rainfall over Sudan, there are no studies that have focused on specific areas that play key role in the country's economy. The Gadaref area that mainly relies on sorghum as the diet and cash crop has not been studied to understand how climate variability has affected sorghum yield over the last four decades.