Solutions to global warming for poor farmers
The world must brace itself for a brewing ‘perfect storm’ — a confluence of crises brought about by climate change, desertification, high energy demand and an exploding population.
Loud alarm
This wake up call comes from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which has a repository of crop varieties that could successfully grow in a warmer world.
Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT says, “The world is facing a perfect storm, with a number of huge problems converging around us.
“At the centre of this storm are the poor people, who depend on agriculture for survival.”
Back to basics
According to Dr. Dar, warmer temperatures, persistent droughts and erratic rainfall could send poor farmers right back to the bottom of the development ladder.
Scientists predict that climate change will adversely affect agricultural productivity and human well-being.
Crop yields are expected to decline, particularly at lower latitudes in the dry and tropical regions, increasing the risk of hunger.
On the other hand, agriculture releases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, amounting to around 10 to12 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually.
The challenge is therefore to design an agriculture that adapts to the changes in climate, as well as reduces greenhouse emissions.
Banking on its scientific work, ICRISAT has solutions that could help reduce the vulnerability of dryland farmers, and increase their resilience to the perfect storm.
Different crops
ICRISAT works on crops (pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut) that have several natural advantages in a changing climate.
Its pearl millet and sorghum have high salinity tolerance. Pearl millet hybrids and flowers and produces seeds even in hot weather and improved sorghum lines are capable of producing good yields in warmer temperatures. Its short-duration groundnut varieties have good drought tolerance.
Likewise, ICRISAT has developed extra-early (maturing in 85 to 90 days) and super-early (maturing in 75 to 80 days) chickpea varieties that can escape terminal drought.
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