Estimation of Main Crop Yield Functions Using Weather Conditions

Abstract

 The purpose of this article is to estimate the yield function of main crops (maize, rice and wheat) using statistics and spatial data of daily weather conditions such as temperature and precipitation, crop, distributions, and crop calendar from 1961 to 2006. By using the estimated parameters of yield function, precipitation rise of 1% increases the production of maize by 0.15%, rice by 0.07%, and decreases the production of wheat by -0.32%, and a temperature rise of 1% decreases the production of maize by 3.78%, rice by 5.70%, and wheat by 1.36% assuming present crop areas, and cropping dates are unchanged. From this result, it can be concluded that a temperature rise induced by global climate change will lead to a reduction in production of major crops, especially rice.