Research Article Characterization of Local Climate and Its Impact on Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Yield in Central Ethiopia Girma Asefa Bogale , 1 Mengistu Mengesha , 1 and Gebre Hadgu 2 1 School of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P.O. Box 138, Diredawa, Ethiopia 2 Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), Agronomy/Physiology, Crop Modeling, Mekelle, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Girma Asefa Bogale; girmaasefa12@gmail.com Received 21 March 2022; Accepted 12 September 2022; Published 8 October 2022 Academic Editor: Nir Y. Krakauer Copyright © 2022 Girma Asefa Bogale et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Climate change is a major threat to agricultural production and undermines the efforts to achieve sustainable development goals in poor countries such as Ethiopia that have climate-sensitive economies. e objective of this study was to assess characterization of local climate and its impact on productivity faba bean (Vicia faba L.) varieties (Gora and Tumsa) productivity in Welmera watershed area, central Ethiopia. Historical climate (1988–2017) and eight years of crop yield data were obtained from National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia and Holeta Agricultural Research Center. Trend, variability, correlation, and regression analyses were carried out to characterize the climate of the area and establish association between faba bean productivity and climate change. e area received mean annual rainfall of 970 mm with SD of 145.6 and coefficient of variation (CV %) of 15%. e earliest and latest onset of rainfall were April 1 (92 DOY) and July 5 (187 DOY), whereas, the end date of rainy season was on September 2 (246 DOY) and October 31 (305 DOY), respectively. e average length of the growing period was 119 days, with a CV% of 35.2%. e probability of dry spell less than 7 days was high (>80%) until the last decade of May (151 DOY); however, the probability sharply declined and reached 0% on the first decade of July (192 DOY). Kiremt (long rainy season that occurs from June to September) and belg (short rainy season that falls from February to April/May) rainfall had increasing trends at a rate of 4.7 mm and 2.32 mm/year, respectively. e annual maximum temperature showed increasing trend at a rate of 0.06 ° C per year and by a factor of 0.34 ° C, which is not statistically significant. e year 2014 was exceptionally drought year while 1988 was wettest year. Kiremt (JJAS) start of rain and rainy day had strong correlation and negative impact on Gora yield with (r −0.407 and −0.369), respectively. e findings suggests large variation in rainfall and temperature in the study area which constraints faba bean production. Investment on agricultural sector to enhance farmer’s adaptation capacity is essential to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and variability on faba bean yield. More research that combines household panel data with long-term climate data is necessary to better understand climate and its impact on faba bean yield. 1. Introduction Climate change/variability brought about by human activity and natural processes is expected to have a significant impact on world food supply [1]. Low-income countries in tropical regions with low adaptation capacities are particularly sensitive to the negative effects of climatic variability and change [2]. Due to low-population adaptability capability, developing countries are projected to be particularly sen- sitive to the negative effects of climatic variability and change. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that altering land surface temperature and rainfall variability will reduce agricultural yields by 50% in rainfed systems [3, 4]. Similarly, Africa is rapidly warming, and arid zones are spreading across the continent [5]. Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan countries where agriculture is afflicted by recurrent drought, flood, erratic rainfall, and other climate extremes [6]. Historical climate data from 1951 to 2006 revealed that the mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures in Ethiopia have Hindawi Advances in Meteorology Volume 2022, Article ID 8759596, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8759596