Comparative study of three agroclimatic classification methods for determination of suitable regions of rainfed wheat cultivation

The purpose of the current feasibility study was to compare three agroclimatic classification methods namely FAO, Papadakis and UNESCO for determination of suitable regions of rainfed wheat cultivation in Kermanshah province, west of Iran using observed data of five synoptic stations. Application of all three methods revealed that the most regions of the province are suitable for the crop cultivation. Based on FAO method, all study stations showed climatic suitability of wheat cultivation. Application of Papadakis method, on the other hand, showed that Sarpol Zahab weather station have a sub-tropical Mediterranean climate and, Kermanshah, Ravansar, Kangavar and Islamabad have continental Mediterranean climate, which are mainly suitable for rainfed wheat . In case of UNESCO climatic classification, the climate of all five study stations was recognized as semi-arid climate which indicates high climatic potential of the province for growing rainfed wheat. In general, all three method confirm the climatic suitability of the region with average yield of 1000 kg ha-1.