|  AGRO-METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS
In Kenya
there are two types of stations, namely GRADE A and GRADE B stations.
Grade A stations are operated and manned by Kenya Meteorological Department
( KMD ) staff, while Grade B are run by other organisations e.g Ministry
of
Agriculture, Universities and Agricultural Research Institutions.
Currently there are 13 agrometeorological stations in the country (
11 Grade A and 2 Grade B).
Types of Observations.
In all these stations normal meteorological parameters are measured
on daily basis.
and the data is conveyed to the Agrometeorological Section of
KMD after every 10
days. These include:
- Air Temperature in Degrees Celsius ( Maximum,
Minimum, Wet bulb, Dry bulb, Dew point)
- Soil Temperature in Degrees Celsius at 5, 10,
20, 30, 50, 100 cm depths.
- Sunshine duration in Hours
- Radiation in Megajoules per Metre Square.
- Wind Speed in Metres per Second at 2 metres height.
- Calculated Relative Humidity (%) at 0900 Hrs and
1500 Hrs.
- Pan Evaporation in Millimeters per day
- Calculated Potential Evapotranspiration in Millimeters
per Dekad (10 - day period)
- Rainfall in Millimeters per day
These observations are made in 32 stations spread throughout the country
. The list of all these stations is shown in the TABLE OF AGRO-MET STATIONS
. In the list, stations are shown as either SYNOPTIC, GRADE A
and GRADE B.
In addition to the above, crop data is obtained from the 13 agrometeorological
stations (Grade A and B) on:
- Variety of the grown crop
- Stage of development attained by the crop
- General assessment of crop performance
- Damage by pests, diseases and adverse weather
- State of weeding in the farm
- Plant density
- Soil moisture
Expected yield ( assessed visually), is normally observed at the end
of each 10 days and along with the meteorological data is communicated
to the agrometeorological section to facilitate crop-weather impact
analysis.
In order to obtain a general overview of crop performance in the country,
especially on the main staple crops in the country namely maize, beans
and wheat all the 32 station report on the stage of crop development,
general assessment of crop performance and yield expected (visual) from
the farmers farms on the basis of what they see from nearby farms and
oral interviews with farmers they come across from areas far from their
reach.
OBERVATORIES
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