scholarly journals Cereal Production Trends under Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in Southern Africa

Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luxon Nhamo ◽  
Greenwell Mathcaya ◽  
Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi ◽  
Sibusiso Nhlengethwa ◽  
Charles Nhemachena ◽  
...  

The increasing frequency and intensity of droughts and floods, coupled with increasing temperatures and declining rainfall totals, are exacerbating existing vulnerabilities in southern Africa. Agriculture is the most affected sector as 95% of cultivated area is rainfed. This review addressed trends in moisture stress and the impacts on crop production, highlighting adaptation possible strategies to ensure food security in southern Africa. Notable changes in rainfall patterns and deficiencies in soil moisture are estimated and discussed, as well as the impact of rainfall variability on crop production and proposed adaptation strategies in agriculture. Climate moisture index (CMI) was used to assess aridity levels. Southern Africa is described as a climate hotspot due to increasing aridity, low adaptive capacity, underdevelopment and marginalisation. Although crop yields have been increasing due to increases in irrigated area and use of improved seed varieties, they have not been able to meet the food requirements of a growing population, compromising regional food security targets. Most countries in the region depend on international aid to supplement yield deficits. The recurrence of droughts caused by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) continue devastating the region, affecting livelihoods, economies and the environment. An example is the 2015/16 ENSO drought that caused the region to call for international aid to feed about 40 million people. In spite of the water scarcity challenges, cereal production continues to increase steadily due to increased investment in irrigated agriculture and improved crop varieties. Given the current and future vulnerability of the agriculture sector in southern Africa, proactive adaptation interventions are important to help farming communities develop resilient systems to adapt to the changes and variability in climate and other stressors.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7905
Author(s):  
Moh. Shadiqur Rahman ◽  
Hery Toiba ◽  
Wen-Chi Huang

The impacts of climate change on marine capture fisheries have been observed in several studies. It is likely to have a substantial effect on fishers’ income and food security. This study aims to estimate the impact of adaptation strategies on fishers’ income and their household’s food security. Data were collected from small-scale fishers’ households, which own a fishing boat smaller or equal to five gross tonnages (GT). The study sites were the two coastal regions of Malang and Probolinggo in East Java, Indonesia, due to the meager socioeconomic resources caused by climate change. A probit regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the fishers’ adaptation. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to evaluate the impact of the adaptation strategies on income and food security. Food security was measured by food consumption score (FCS). The findings indicated that participation in the fishers’ group affected adaptation strategies significantly, and so did the access to credit and climate information. Also, PSM showed that the adaptation strategies had a positive and significant impact on fishers’ income and food security. Those who applied the adaptation strategies had a higher income and FCS than those who did not. This finding implies that the fishery sector’s adaptation strategies can have significant expansion outcome and reduce exposure to risks posed by climate change. Therefore, the arrangement of more climate change adaptation strategies should be promoted by the government for small-scale fishers in Indonesia.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Olivia Muza

El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most recurrent change in climate impacting agriculture productivity and food security. This study investigates ENSO impacts on four cereal crops (maize, millet, sorghum and wheat) using crop production and climate datasets spanning the years 1960-2015. The results of this study reveal that during El Nino (La Nina) maize, sorghum and wheat production decreases (increases) while that of millet increases (decreases). Even though, the correlation is statistically significant for maize only, the outcome is a call to review the macro-food policy taking into account ENSO-related phase effects to redress food insecurity. The study recommends incentives for agricultural productivity including irrigation intensification and small grain value chain development, trade and food security arrangements, income generation opportunities and strategic partnerships for improved food and nutrition security.


Author(s):  
M.S. Humphries

Abstract Sediments are the most important source of Late Quaternary palaeoclimate information in southern Africa, but have been little studied from a geochemical perspective. However, recent advances in analytical techniques that allow rapid and near-continuous elemental records to be obtained from sedimentary sequences has resulted in the increasing use of elemental indicators for reconstructing climate. This paper explores the diverse information that can be acquired from the inorganic component of sediments and reviews some of the progress that has been made over the last two decades in interpreting the climatic history of southern Africa using elemental records. Despite the general scarcity of elemental records, excellent examples from the region exist, which provide some of the longest and most highly resolved sequences of environmental change currently available. Records from Tswaing crater and marine deposits on the southern KwaZulu-Natal coastline have provided rare glimpses into hydroclimate variability over the last 200 000 years, suggesting that summer rainfall in the region responded predominantly to insolation forcing on glacial-interglacial timescales. Over shorter timescales, lakes and wetlands found in the Wilderness embayment on the southern Cape coast and along the Maputaland coast in north-eastern South Africa have yielded highly-resolved elemental records of Holocene environmental change, providing insight into the changing interactions between tropical (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation) and temperate (e.g., mid-latitude westerlies) climate systems affecting rainfall variability in the region. The examples discussed demonstrate the multiple environmental processes that can be inferred from elemental proxies and the unique insight this can provide in advancing our understanding of past climate change on different timescales. The interpretation of geochemical data can be complicated by the complex nature of sedimentary environments, various proxy assumptions and analytical challenges, and the reliability of sediment-based climate reconstructions is substantially enhanced through multi-proxy approaches.


Food Security ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Pawel Jarzebski ◽  
Abubakari Ahmed ◽  
Yaw Agyeman Boafo ◽  
Boubacar Siddighi Balde ◽  
Linda Chinangwa ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-547
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Currey ◽  
Ann Marie VanDerZanden ◽  
Joshua J. Mitchell

Food security is a growing global concern. To meet the needs of an ever-growing population, food production practices will need to evolve to maximize food quantity and quality. Controlled-environment food production has increased significantly in the United States over the past 5 years, and a component of that production includes hydroponic food crops. In an effort to better prepare a workforce with knowledge of hydroponic crop production, a new course was added to an existing greenhouse curriculum. A service-learning project was integrated in the course that allowed students to experience both growing crops hydroponically and volunteering at a local food bank with a free meal program. Self-assessment showed a significant increase in student confidence in understanding food security by the end of the course. There was also a significant knowledge gained in defining terminology, factors, and the impact of food security in a community. The three guided reflections students completed during the course identified four common themes relative to the course content and service-learning project including the following: community benefits, value of volunteering, local and global effects of food insecurity, and personal growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joash Bwambale ◽  
Khaldoon A. Mourad

AbstractAgriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, with about 24.9% contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) as per the Uganda National Household Survey 2016/17. Agricultural productivity (yield per hectare) is still low due to the high dependence on rain-fed subsistence farming. Climate change is expected to further reduce the yield per hectare. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the potential impact of climate change on maize yield in the Victoria Nile Sub-basin using the AquaCrop model. It further assesses the possible adaptation measures to climate change. The Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2–Earth System (HadGEM2-ES) data downloaded from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) was used to simulate maize yield in the near future (2021–2040), mid future (2041–2070) and late future (2071–2099). Results show that maize yield is likely to reduce by as high as 1–10%, 2–42% and 1–39% in the near, mid and late futures, respectively, depending on the agro-ecological zone. This decline in maize yield can have a significant impact on regional food security as well as socio-economic well-being since maize is a staple crop. The study also shows that improving soil fertility has no significant impact on maize yield under climate change. However, a combined application of supplementary irrigation and shifting the planting dates is a promising strategy to maintain food security and socio-economic development. This study presents important findings and adaptation strategies that policymakers and other stakeholders such as farmers can implement to abate the effects of climate change on crop production.


As Bangladesh is an agricultural country, the economy, as well as the food security of this country, mostly depends on the production level of different crops over the year. Therefore, there exists immense pressure on exaggerated crop production due to the fast growth of the population. But, the average production level is being hampered by the bad nature of the weather. We have conducted a survey on near about 100 farmers of two northern districts of Bangladesh: Pabna and Rajshahi and assessed the impact of rough nature on production. According to farmers and agriculturalists, it is noticed that rough weather causes about 30% to 70% production shortage than expectation with all other factors remaining constant. In this study, we have adopted Human-computer interaction (HCI) based approach (Soft System Methodology-SSM) to this aspect for efficacious collaboration with root-level farmers and agricultural trainers providing ease for understanding weather-related issues on the production of crops. Finally, some machine learning algorithms were also implemented on the obtained dataset to accurately classify the range of production level of rice and a comparison is made among the algorithms based on performance metrics. Moreover, an android based application is created to depict the summary of the study.


Author(s):  
Usongo P. Ajonina ◽  
Bekumaka B. Okanyene

Oil palm cropping is rapidly expanding within Mundemba. Although they have the potential to contribute to employment and economic development, the effect of their rapid expansion on soil properties and food security is largely unknown. The objective of the study is to analyze the trend in the surface area occupied by palms and farmlands between 1980 to 2020, assess the impact of oil palm cultivation on soil properties and food security. Ground Control Points (GCPs) were taken to evaluate land-use changes and soil samples were collected from palm plantations for analysis. Interviews and questionnaires were administered to household heads to gather information on food security. Results revealed that palm plantations experienced a rapid increase from 35.52ha in 1980 to 119,171.49 in 2020. Arable land also shows a progressive increase of 101.39 ha in 1980 to 518.55 ha in 2020. A significant deterioration of soil nutrients status under palm plantations compared to the adjacent farm lands was observed. Palm cultivation has resulted in food security issues in the area due to its lucrative nature and impact on soils properties. To improve food security farmers should be educated on sustainable crop production methods and soil management techniques.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAA Faroque ◽  
M Asaduzamman ◽  
M Hossain

Climate change is no more an environmental concern it has emerged as biggest developmental challenge for the most vulnerable Bangladesh. The whole international community is also scared of catastrophic adverse effects of future climatic changes on different spheres of man and nature, e.g. deglaciation and sea level changes, submergence of lands, nations and major coastal lowlands, atmospheric dynamics including evaporation and precipitation, global radiation balance, photosynthesis and ecological productivity, plant and animal community and many more. This paper tries to focus the adverse impacts of climatic changes on the crop production, food security, yield gap and sustainable agriculture by crop intensification and diversification. The impact of climate on agriculture could result in problems with food security and may threaten the livelihood activities upon which much of the population depends and thrives. Hilly committed research efforts showed technological progress as evidenced by release of 684 high yielding varieties of various crops and about 769 management technologies by NARS institutes, and universities.  The greatest challenge for the future agriculture under climate change, we need improved and modified warning system, developed climate impact modules, build sufficient resilience of food system, comprehensive climate resilience strategies, develop database on climate. Also need top priority to mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture through weather services, more research and extension service, agro advisories, insurance, community bank, intensify and diversify crop production system, modern high yielding varieties and management technologies for future sustainable agriculture.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jsf.v11i1.19396


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farjana Eyasmin ◽  
Bikash Chandra Ghosh ◽  
Bosede Ngozi Adeleye

Climate change alters the impact of the environment on economies, and sustainable adaptation which may improve food security is embedded in the actualization of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2, 13, and 14. Hence, this study contributes to the debate by measuring how farmers in the Northwestern region of Bangladesh adapt to climate change. A cross-sectional multistage random sampling is used to collect 500 data points by the face-to-face interview method. For robustness, the study demonstrates climate change adaptations, adaptation indices, and the sustainability indicators in social, economic, and environmental concepts using the composite indicator method. Also, Rasch analysis and marginal contribution were used to explain the adaptation indices. Finally, a trivariate Tobit regression is used to examine sustainability analyses of climate change adaptation strategies and explain how the climate change adaptations affect different dimensions of sustainability. The results showed that dominant male households, extended family, skilled farmers and food security influenced adaptation index as well as adaptation strategies like organic manure, changing planting dates, diseases tolerant varieties and irrigation. Though, most dominant strategies like irrigation and applying fertilizer are not sustainable. The study also found that farm size, credit access, and extension contact significantly affects sustainability. Moreover, off-farm activities, crop diversification, and using high-yield varieties are more sustainable adaptation strategies. Policy should be implemented on the basis of region and sustainable manner.


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