Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) SUBSTOR Potato model (v4.5) was calibrated using Desiree variety. DSSAT SUBSTOR Potato model simulates on a daily basis the development and growth of potatoes using inputs such as climate, soil and crop management. The experiment was conducted in Banisogosogo, Fiji Islands, during the potato growing season of 2012. Fresh and dry weights of belowground plant component (tubers) were taken during progressive harvests. The DSSAT SUBSTOR Potato model was calibrated using experimental field data, soil and weather data of the growing season. The manual calibration steps involved recalculation of soil water content and the adjustments of genetic co-efficient to suit the temperature and daylength regime similar to the experimental conditions. Tuber dry weight was used as the main parameter to evaluate the model. The R2 values of the observed and simulated model outputs before calibration for replicate plot 1, replicate plot 2 and replicate plot 3 were 0.52, 0.49 and 0.61 respectively. After calibration, the R2 values for tuber dry yield for replicate plot 1, replicate plot 2 and replicate plot 3 were 0.88, 0.66 and 0.92 respectively indicating a strong positive relationship between the simulated and the observed yield.
Climate change loss and damage (L&D) presents an existential threat to the Fiji Islands. This case study examines how rural Indo-Fijian sugarcane farming communities face challenges in minimising, averting, and addressing L&D from cyclones. In-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 68) were conducted with 40 sugarcane farmers in two Indo-Fijian sugarcane communities, Barotu and Toko settlements in Western Viti Levu, Fiji, and with 28 key stakeholders from government ministries, academia, and climate change response services. Despite implementing climate change adaptation measures, Fiji’s sugar industry has faced devastating L&D from frequent and severe cyclones. Much of the climate change L&D to crops, property, and income was irreversible and unavoidable. Non-economic loss and damage (NELD) was found insurmountable in both field sites, including the loss of homes and places of worship, cascading and flow-on effects as well as the heightening of uncertainty, fear, and trauma. Evidence suggests that L&D, including NELD, is highly context specific, and UNFCCC’s broad NELD categories do not fully capture L&D at the local level. The systematic documentation of L&D within vulnerable communities would improve understanding of L&D, including NELD, and assist to facilitate the mobilisation of immediate support and action to address L&D in countries that lack the capacities to respond independently. This paper recommends crucial policy interventions such as livelihood diversification, integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, land tenure policy reforms, and the operationalisation of the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage.
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