ABSTRACT
Eritrea has a large variation in landscape and climatic features. The terrain varies dramatically from the highest point in the central Highlands at Mountain Soira, 3,018 m+MSL (Mean Sea Level); descending to sea level on the East, to the coastal desert plain and the arid Sudan border and finally falling to 75 m-MSL near Kulul at the Danakil depression near the Djibouti border (Central Intelligence Agency, 2006). The climate is
characterized by hot and dry conditions in the desert strip along the Red Sea coast, and cooler and wetter in the central Highlands. 70% of the country is classified as hot to very hot with a mean annual temperature of more than 27 oC, 25% as warm to mild with a mean annual temperature of about 22 oC and the remaining 5% as cool with a mean annual temperature of less than 19 oC (Ogbazghi, 2001). As to rainfall, about 50% of the country receives less than 200 mm, 40% between 300 and 600 mm and nearly 10% more than 600 mm per annum. As in the rest of Sahelian Africa, Eritrea receives its rainfall from April/May to September/October except for the coastal areas, which receive their rain between November/December and February/March. The problem of inadequate total rainfall over most of the country is compounded by the high variability of its distribution.
