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The Agroclimate of Ceylon
135
The Agroclimate of Ceylon. Manfred Domros. Geoecological Research, Vol. 2. Franz Steiner Verlag GMBG, Wiesbaden, 1974. This is a very compact and informative study of the basic morphology of the Ceylonese climate and the opportunities and limitations it exercises u p o n agriculture. It has been written as a contribution to the discussion of the urgent problems facing the country's e c o n o m y with its very heavy dependence upon tea exports and the desperate need for greater agricultural productivity to feed the rapidly growing population. The treatment of the primary meteorological elements is descriptive rather than analytical as are the adopted crop indices. Very little attempt is made to explain the spatial and temporal distributions that are revealed by the numerous and detailed statistical manipulations of the data. These are made possible by the impressively large number of climatological stations in Ceylon having long periods of records. In addition to the 20 official observatories, the author has made use of the numerous private climatological stations located mainly on tea, rubber and coconut plantations. The result is a very detailed charting of the main elements of the Ceylonese climate and study of its implications to the distribution {rather than productivity) of selected perennial and annual crops. The b o o k is arranged in five chapters. The first is very short but sets the objectives of the study against the guidelines of other agroclimatological surveys, more especially those recommended by the F.A.O. and other United Nations agencies. Chapter 2 analyses the spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall and the water balance in Ceylon, and is followed in Chapter 3 by a detailed analysis of the main characteristics of the agriculture. Most attention is given to four crops: tea, rubber, coconuts and rice. In the following chapter, the critical climatological boundary conditions for each of these crops is analysed, together with those of cocoa, cinnamon, cardamom and pepper. The analyses are straightforward and unsophisticated, being mainly concerned with the first order climatological constraints upon growth or non-growth. Chapter 5, occupying almost half the book, describes in great detail the main elements of climate: rainfall, humidity, temperature, wind and sunshine, but concludes in the following two chapters that in the wet zone of southwest and central Ceylon, there is not surprisingly very little scope for expansion of the area of the major crops, though diversification of production is both feasible and desirable. In the dry zone of the north and east, irrigation would allow expansion of the areas of rice cultivation and this is discussed in some detail. The text is copiously illustrated with 61 figures and 23 photographs, though many of the latter show remarkably little. As a straightforward, descriptive account of the main meteorological elements in Ceylon's climate, this b o o k is a mine of information, b u t in truth it adds very little to our understanding of agrometeorology in general or of
136 Ceylon in particular. One would have welcomed a more detailed statistical analysis o f the bearing of climate u p o n productivity rather than simply u p o n boundaries to production. This would have more precisely defined the o p t i m u m p r o d u c t i o n areas and might have revealed a good deal more room for crop redistribution in order to maximise the return to the Ceylonese e c o no my . TONY J. CHANDLER (Manchester)
The Agroclimate of Ceylon. Manfred Domros. Geoecological Research, Vol. 2. Franz Steiner Verlag GMBG, Wiesbaden, 1974. This is a very compact and informative study of the basic morphology of the Ceylonese climate and the opportunities and limitations it exercises u p o n agriculture. It has been written as a contribution to the discussion of the urgent problems facing the country's e c o n o m y with its very heavy dependence upon tea exports and the desperate need for greater agricultural productivity to feed the rapidly growing population. The treatment of the primary meteorological elements is descriptive rather than analytical as are the adopted crop indices. Very little attempt is made to explain the spatial and temporal distributions that are revealed by the numerous and detailed statistical manipulations of the data. These are made possible by the impressively large number of climatological stations in Ceylon having long periods of records. In addition to the 20 official observatories, the author has made use of the numerous private climatological stations located mainly on tea, rubber and coconut plantations. The result is a very detailed charting of the main elements of the Ceylonese climate and study of its implications to the distribution {rather than productivity) of selected perennial and annual crops. The b o o k is arranged in five chapters. The first is very short but sets the objectives of the study against the guidelines of other agroclimatological surveys, more especially those recommended by the F.A.O. and other United Nations agencies. Chapter 2 analyses the spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall and the water balance in Ceylon, and is followed in Chapter 3 by a detailed analysis of the main characteristics of the agriculture. Most attention is given to four crops: tea, rubber, coconuts and rice. In the following chapter, the critical climatological boundary conditions for each of these crops is analysed, together with those of cocoa, cinnamon, cardamom and pepper. The analyses are straightforward and unsophisticated, being mainly concerned with the first order climatological constraints upon growth or non-growth. Chapter 5, occupying almost half the book, describes in great detail the main elements of climate: rainfall, humidity, temperature, wind and sunshine, but concludes in the following two chapters that in the wet zone of southwest and central Ceylon, there is not surprisingly very little scope for expansion of the area of the major crops, though diversification of production is both feasible and desirable. In the dry zone of the north and east, irrigation would allow expansion of the areas of rice cultivation and this is discussed in some detail. The text is copiously illustrated with 61 figures and 23 photographs, though many of the latter show remarkably little. As a straightforward, descriptive account of the main meteorological elements in Ceylon's climate, this b o o k is a mine of information, b u t in truth it adds very little to our understanding of agrometeorology in general or of
136 Ceylon in particular. One would have welcomed a more detailed statistical analysis o f the bearing of climate u p o n productivity rather than simply u p o n boundaries to production. This would have more precisely defined the o p t i m u m p r o d u c t i o n areas and might have revealed a good deal more room for crop redistribution in order to maximise the return to the Ceylonese e c o no my . TONY J. CHANDLER (Manchester)