page_title: Ecocrop
section_title: The Ecocrop model
hierarchical_section_title: Ecocrop / The Ecocrop model
caption_attribution_description: Climate map of Asia, excluding (South)west-Asia (from the "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification").
context_page_description: Ecocrop was a database used to determine the suitability of a crop for a specified environment. Developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations it provided information predicting crop viability in different locations and climatic conditions. It also served as a catalog of plants and plant growth characteristics.
context_section_description: The Ecocrop model determines a crop's suitability to a location by evaluating different variables. Specifically, the plant descriptors include category, life form, growth habit, and life span while environmental descriptors include temperature, precipitation, light intensity, Köppen climate classification, photoperiodism, latitude, altitude, and other soil characteristics. The crop database is particularly useful if there is no alternative but to use environmental ranges. Once these inputs are determined, the system produces a suitability index as a percentage. The suitability index score is generated from 0 to 1 with the former indicating totally unsuitable while the latter indicates optimal or excellent suitability. The output also include separated suitability values for temperature and precipitation.
  As a prediction model, the Ecocrop algorithm yields data that are more generic than those produced by other models such as DOMAIN and BIOCLIM. The information is generic with respect to the nature of the requirements and is attributed to the lack of information concerning specific crops. Another limitation is that the results depend solely on bioclimatic factors and discounts other variables such as soil requirements, pests, and diseases. 
  Ecocrop evaluates whether climatic conditions are adequate within a growing season for temperature and precipitation every month. It involves the calculation of climatic suitability based on rainfall and temperature marginal and optimal ranges.
caption: Köppen Map (Asia)
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