Climate Change and Crop Production in Africa
Agriculture, particularly crop production, is an economic activity that is highly dependent upon weather and climate in order to produce the food and fiber necessary to sustain human life. The vulnerability of agriculture to climate change and variability is an issue of major importance to the international scientific community. Greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced climate change would very likely result in significant damage in the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa because the region already endures high heat and low precipitation. General circulation models (GCMs) are the primary source of climate change scenarios which make projections about the degree and timing of climate change. Agriculture has always been dependent on the variability of the climate for the growing season and the state of the land at the start of the growing season. The key for adaptation for crop production to climate change is the predictability of the conditions. What is required is an understanding of the effect on the changing climate on land, water, and temperature.