Climate Change: The Complex Challenge for Agriculture

Climate change is an alteration in climate patterns that last for an extended period, like decades or more. It’s a long-term change in temperatures and weather patterns. These changes may be natural, but human activities are the main cause of climate change. But now, global climate change is alarming for the Earth. The primary causes of climate change are Global warming, burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, use of pesticides and insecticides, and urbanization which results in the changing of rain patterns, sea level rise, malnutrition, flood, drought, salinity, land degradation, soil erosion, environmental degradation, desertification, scarcity of water, lack of nutritious food, spreading of vector-borne diseases, decaying of aquatic life, etc.

Global warming is the primary cause of Climate change on Earth. It gradually increases the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere acts like a greenhouse to capture the sun’s heat. When we add heat to any system, changes occur. Most of our Earth is covered with oceans, and when oceans heat up, evaporation becomes high, resulting in more precipitation in some places, directly affecting crops. High temperatures also increase the reproduction rate of insects and pests, directly harming our food crops. A large amount of CO2 is released by burning fossil fuels which trap heat in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, Methane, Fluorinated gases, and Sulphur hexafluoride are the primary greenhouse gases. A large amount of food-related greenhouse gases come from agriculture. For example, cattle’s digestive process produces methane and nitrous oxide from fertilizers. Other agricultural emissions are the burning of crop residues.

Effect of climate change on agriculture:

Climate change is becoming a threat to agriculture day by day. It affects the farmer’s ability to grow the crops we need to survive. Crops suited to a region’s climate are chosen to produce food for that area. Therefore, agriculture is climate-dependent. Climate change disturbs the agricultural ecosystem and changes agricultural climatic elements like temperature, precipitation, and sunlight. Global warming reduced crop quantity and quality due to the reduced growth period, reduced sugar content, bad coloration, and reduced storage stability in fruits, an increase of weeds, blights, and dangerous insects in crops, and diminished land fertility as a result of the faster decomposition of organic matter, and increased soil erosion due to higher rainfall. Global warming also has some positive impacts on agriculture. It increases the productivity of crops due to the increased CO2 concentration, extends the growth period of crops, and reduces the heating cost for protected cultivation.

Extreme weather events, drought, and salinity conditions, more insects and pests are reducing the yield of crops. Soil erosion causes the degradation of agricultural land. Farmers are facing a water shortage. Global warming changes the growing seasons of crops, which affects the yield. It disturbs the maturity and seed setting of crops. Climate change affects both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture. It is changing the ecosystems of many crop species. Rising temperatures pushed staple food rice into different cooler areas, hundreds of plant species are disappearing, and hundreds will move thousands of miles. Crops grow best at specific temperatures, and when the temperatures change, the productivity of crops also changes. It causes changes in areas suitable for cultivation and quality degradation due to temperature rise.

Temperature changes and wind patterns bring monsoons and unpredictable weather in Asia. Now in 2022, due to changing rain patterns, 70% area is affected, and 30% has become unusable due to the flood in Pakistan. This flood negatively affects Pakistan’s economy and agriculture because agriculture contributes about 19.2 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), provides employment to 38.5% of the laborers, and is a significant source of foreign exchange earnings. And 65-70 % population of Pakistan depends on agriculture for their livelihood. World’s population is increasing day by day. Climate change is also a big threat to food security. Extreme events from climate change are disturbing the reproductive stage of plant growth.

Strategies to cope with climate change:

Biochar making removes three tons of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere. By planting more trees, more organic farming, less use of chemicals (insecticides and pesticides), recycling more, reducing the use of chlorofluorocarbons which cause ozone depletion, avoiding products with lots of packaging, less use private jets and cars, using public transports, use energy efficient home appliances, eat organic food, switch to electric vehicles and shop with reusable bags. Improved feeds can lessen methane production during cattle’s digestion. It will also reduce the amount of gas released by decomposing manure.

Climate-smart agriculture is playing a vital role in this challenging situation of agriculture. Plant breeders and geneticists are developing climate-smart crop varieties that defend against extreme temperatures, water scarcity, new pests and diseases, and nutritional insecurity. An ideotype plant is a model plant with both morphological and physiological traits and the best crop phenotype to grow well in a specific environment. So ideotype breeding enhances the crop yield.

For example, short-statured cereals like wheat, rice, and sorghum resulted in a doubling of yield potential, and for drought conditions, we need a tap root system in an idiotypic plant. Ideotypes can be tested under current climate conditions. Climate-smart crops have the resistance to grow in these severe climatic conditions. So, plant breeders have to design more climate-smart crops; in this way, we can fulfill our food requirements.