Crops and climate

Climate change is adversely affecting the yield of major crops in the country by rise in temperature, irregular precipitation and extreme droughts. Climate change will also enhance the vulnerability of the agricultural sector with severe storms, floods and droughts, in turn exposing the country to the threat of socio-economic losses. The worsening climate has already negatively impacted crop production.

In view of the above, adaptation to climate change is the way to reduce or avoid the negative impacts of environmental changes at the farm level. This can be done by changing crop variety, altering irrigation and changes in soil management practices. Also, the agricultural sector needs an adaptation strategy in order to deal with this crisis. Policymakers should also focus their investments on infrastructure development – water reservoirs, canals and dams to handle the extreme disaster events. Water conservation management and the irrigation system must be improved to support agriculture growth. A decline in crop production due to climate change not only affects the agriculture sector but its results can also extend to all agriculture-related industries and beyond, such as manufacturing and services. Climate-led changes in crop production will have consequences on the returns of factors of production, incomes and consumption of different types of households. A huge rise in commodity prices will create a great challenge for the livelihood of the whole country, especially for urban households.

Khan Faraz

Peshawar