The LEAP software January 21, 2008

Peter Hoefsloot consultant to WB and WFP

A bit of History• Assumption behind LEAP: In rural areas in Ethiopia people

largely depend on crops and livestock (rangeland) for their livelihood

• Monitoring Rainfall during season is too crude as an indicator.

• In Ethiopia crop yields are to a large extend predicted by the amount of available water compared to water requirement.

• Monitoring crop yields provides an early indicator of livelihood crises

• A simple Water Balance Model correlates well to yields

From rain and crops to indicators with a water balance model

General Philosophy of LEAP tool

• Compatibility with AgroMetShell• Grid based, resolution 0.1 degrees• Different input and output datasets • Dataset priority• Many indexes pre-calculated.• Flexible number of crops• Specific Import functions for all data• Internet update for new data (RFE2 etc..)

The FAO Water Balance Model

• Main output: Water Requirements Satisfaction Index (essentially ETa / ET0)

• Small set of input data• Transparent• In use (with small variations) by:

– FewsNET (Africa)– JRC of EU (worldwide)– FAO (Africa and Asia); AgrometShell– (…)

LEAP comes with lots of data• Crops

– FAO WHC– 15 crops and crop coefficients

• Rainfall estimates– RFE1 (1995 to 2000)– RFE2 (2000 to present)– TAMSAT (Univ. of Reading)– ARC (Africa Rainfall Estimate Climatology)– SEDI– National Meteorological Agency ground data

• ET0– FAO average dekadal ET0

Getting LEAP and getting support

• Tool (regularly new versions)– vam.wfp.org/leap

• Technical SupportMathewos Hunde m_hunde@hotmail.com

mattewos.hunde@wfp.orgPeter Hoefsloot peter.hoefsloot@wxs.nl