Questions to be addressed

Evidence for climatic change, as identified through changing rainfall patterns, will be explored using the following ´events´

• Start of the rains - do the records show evidence of change in the start of the rainy season, which could result in shift in successful planting dates?

• Dry spells - is there any evidence of change in the length, frequency or spread of the dry spells, which could again have a consequence on agricultural productivity?

Before attempting to address these issues, it will be necessary to organise, verify and format the daily rainfall data so that they can be analysed. Climatic data are an example of routinely collected data that are often used as secondary data. Secondary data do not usually receive the same rigorous treatment as primary data. Thus preparing climatic data for processing can require considerable resources. This had been budgeted for. Often it is not. It is the responsibility of a researcher or biometrician to ensure that there is adequate data processing funding within any project funding proposal.

A subsidiary objective of this case study is, therefore,

• to thoroughly screen and check the data for errors.

We also address:

• the issue of dissemination of the results, especially to the farmer.