Climate change may cause India loss of 125 million tonnes of cereals

Climate change can cause India a loss of 125 million tonnes of cereals, equivalent to 18 per cent of the country's rain-fed production, Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations. Talking of the possible adverse impact of climate change on agriculture worldwide, Dr. Diouf, in a lecture at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, said the crop yield potential was likely to rise at higher latitudes for global average temperature increases of up to 1-3 degree Celsius, depending on the crop, and then decrease beyond that. On the contrary, at lower latitudes, especially in the seasonally dry tropics, the potential was likely to decline for even a small global temperature increase.

 

A greater frequency of droughts and floods would affect local production negatively, especially in subsistence sectors, at low latitudes. "Rain-fed agriculture in marginal areas in the semi-arid and sub-humid regions is mostly at risk," Dr. Diouf said. Industrialised nations could gain in production potential, while developing countries might lose, he said.

 

The effect of climate change on forests and on forest-dependent people, and environmental conditions, was already evident.

 

(The Hindu, 8^th   August 2007)