Agriculture Output Dropped 21% In Past 60 Years Due To Climate Change
Surprisingly, every region has had a unique effect, and it¡¯s not uniform throughout the world. For instance, warmer regions like Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa experienced a drop in growth ranging between 26 to 34 percent. On the other hand, North America saw declines of around five to 15 percent.
A novel study has shed light on how climate change might not just be affecting ecosystems and animals in them, it is also affecting agricultural productivity on the planet.
AP
The study has found that farmers are growing nearly 21 percent less food than they were growing in the environmental conditions that existed in the 1960s, despite increased mechanization.
Also Read: Global Oceans Heated Up To A Record High In 2020, Due To Rapid Climate Change
For this study, (published in Nature Climate Change) Robert Chambers, a professor of agriculture at the University of Maryland. And Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, an economist at Cornell University, formulated a model to calculate productivity based on current weather trends as well as weather conditions that were experienced decades ago.
They found that since 1961, a 21 percent reduction was seen in global agricultural productivity which is similar to the losing growth of crops in the past seven years.
Surprisingly, every region has had a unique effect, and it¡¯s not uniform throughout the world. Warmer regions like Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa experienced a drop in growth ranging between 26-34 percent, whereas, North America saw decline of 5-15 percent.
Also Read: M.S. Swaminathan¡¯s Genetic Engineering Unleashed India's Green Revolution
Climate change to blame
Researchers hint that the primary reason for this is the changing weather patterns which include increased flooding and droughts in several areas. These massive shifts caused by climate change affect the farmer¡¯s productive strategies to have a successful harvest.
Ariel Ortiz-Bobea explains. ¡°Some people think about climate change as a distant problem, something that should concern primarily future generations. Our study finds that [man-made] climate change is already having a disproportionate impact on poorer countries that depend primarily on agriculture.¡±
Reuters
Researchers warn that by 2050, our planet could have a population of around 10 billion and it is important for the productivity of essential agriculture not just to stabilise but also thrive at a rate never seen before.
Chambers adds, ¡±This gives us an idea of trends to help see what to do in the future with new changes in the climate that are beyond what we've previously seen.¡±