This is the first study that estimates the potential production for any underutilised
crop on a global basis. Our long-term aim is to demonstrate how this approach,
initially for bambara groundnut, can be used to assess the potential productivity
of many underutilised food crops at locations beyond their current distribution.
The most significant contributions from this study are the integration of a
weather simulator and a crop simulation model into a Geographical Information
System (GIS) to predict potential production of bambara groundnut over
the globe. The integration came through a coincidence of interests. FAO needed
to improve the knowledge and better use of underutilised crops that can contribute
to the food security of the world s poorest people. For the University of
Nottingham it was an opportunity to provide a geographic basis for their existing
crop model that had been refined by the third author so that predictions of
bambara groundnut potential could be extended to new sites.
Integration of the weather generator and model into a GIS was based on the
experiences gained by the second author in using fish growth models to estimate
potential for fish farming in Africa (FAO, 1998, available at www.fao.org/docrep/
W8522e/W8522E00.htm).