Climate change to hurt wheat, rice crop yields

Islamabad: The global warming-induced by rising global temperatures can badly affect the country’s food production system in shape of crop yield losses and reduced growing cycles in the various climatic zones of the country.

Spokesperson of ministry of climate change Mohammad Saleem said that wheat crop yield will be reduced by 3.4 to 12.5 per cent in semi-arid irrigated areas including Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and 3.8 to 14.5 per cent in arid areas including Hyderabad, Badin, Bahawalpur and Multan.

He said, around 16 per cent decline in overall wheat produce in rain-dependent areas has been forecasted in various areas of the Potohar region including Chakwal district under different climate change scenarios towards the end of ongoing century.

“The rice crop yields are likely to register fall by 12 to 22 per cent in almost all rice growing areas of the country by end of this century because of the rising global temperatures,” he estimated quoting findings of the GCISC’s crop simulation models.

He said that growing temperatures pose a serious risk to Pakistan’s efforts for achieving sustainable food security and meet food consumption needs of the spiking population, according to studies based on various projections of climate change impacts on the country’s agriculture and water resources.

He said that like the most developing countries, Pakistanis staring at the radar of food insecurity, with its food production out of sync with population growth.The food availability scenario is further aggravated by shifting weather patterns with recurring severe droughts and floods that affect the country’s overall crop production, the spokesperson added.

He explained that studies carried out by the Global Change Impact Study Centre (GCISC), a Ministry’s research wing, pointed out that average temperature over Pakistan would increase in the coming decades at a pace faster than that of the average global temperature increase.“The temperature rise in Pakistan may exceed by about one degree Celsius by the end of this century, Saleem said quoting the GCISC studies.

He said that these simulation models further indicate that length of cultivation periods of these important crops would shorten, which would lead to pronounced plunges in yields of not only rice and wheat but also other crops such as maize and vegetables.

The water requirements of different crops including wheat and rice could register steep rise in coming decades on account of local impacts of global warming induced by untamed rise in the global temperatures.

“The climate simulation models have revealed that net crop water requirements would sharply increase because of the global warming impacts on Pakistan’s already rapidly shrinking water resources.

However, reduced water availability for these food crops in coming decades, which are vital to the country’s sustainable food security, may not help meet the rising water requirements of the various crops,” Saleem said.

As a result, overall productivity of different food crops would decline as long as water conservation technologies, drought-resilient and high-yield crop varieties, rainwater harvesting programmes and direct seeding technologies were not deployed on war-footing,” he cautioned.