Climatic data for the agroecological characterization of Laos

摘要

Defining agroecological zones helps alleviate constraints to crop productivity and management. Laos has never had its agroecological zones systematically characterized. We therefore began by evaluating climatic data, available from Lao meteorological and hydrological stations. Although each province has at least one meteorological station, most stations are located in central and southern Laos. Because data on hours of sunshine, wind speed and evaporation are few, Estimates of potential evaporation are difficult. Despite these deficiencies, progress in agroecological characterization can be made by developing simple maps to characterize rainfall and temperature patterns. Rainfall is the most important climatic factor in the rice-growing areas of the rainfed lowlands, and high and low temperatures can be potential problems in the dry-season rice environment. Maps would therefore be valuable to researchers and policy makers. In this paper, we present a plan for the agroecological characterization of Laos, and suggest possible options in the future when more data become available.