Global Warming Affecting Agriculture
| The impact of global warming on crops depends on the complex interactions among a set of factors such as the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, rising temperature levels, water and nutrient availability in the soil. |
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- Elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can essentially fertilize crops and vegetation. This effect is known as the “Carbon Dioxide fertilization effect”.
- A mild increase in temperature levels usually accelerates the growth of plants and crops, while a drastic increase in temperature levels can actually slow down the growth of plants. A rise in temperature enhances the photosynthetic rate of plants as well as increases the rate at which plants release carbon dioxide.
- With a rise in temperature level, there is a subsequent increase in the rate of evaporation, thereby drying out the soils in the region. As a result of insufficient water supply, plant growth is adversely affected.
Global warming affects agriculture both directly as well as indirectly.
Direct impacts: Global warming and the resulting climate change will adversely affect agricultural yield because of extreme weather conditions such as high temperature, heavy rainfall, frequent floods, and droughts.
Indirect Impacts: It is a known fact that as the temperature rises, pest population would increase and so will the pest related problems. Global warming and the resulting climate change will adversely affect agricultural yield due to rapid changes in soil quality, frequent and more intense pest infestation and plant diseases.
Food production is predicted to decline in those regions which are near the equator, particularly in the seasonally dry tropics and the drought prone areas of Africa, where a reduction in the arable land area could drastically reduce the productivity of rain fed crops. However, in the higher latitudes (regions such as Northern Europe, North America, New Zealand, and parts of Latin America), agricultural productivity will improve with global warming and the resulting rise in temperatures, because of increased length of growing season, more precipitation and less frost.
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