Hershey, Pennsylvania
New York, New YorkBeijing, China
Climate Change and Crop Production in Africa

Climate Change and Crop Production in Africa

Zerihun Yohannes Amare (Institute of Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Studies, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia)
Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 10
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-3686-8.ch063
OnDemand:
(Individual Chapters)
Available
$37.50
Current Special Offers
No Current Special Offers
TOTAL SAVINGS: $37.50

Abstract

Agriculture, particularly crop production, is an economic activity that is highly dependent upon weather and climate in order to produce the food and fiber necessary to sustain human life. The vulnerability of agriculture to climate change and variability is an issue of major importance to the international scientific community. Greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced climate change would very likely result in significant damage in the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa because the region already endures high heat and low precipitation. General circulation models (GCMs) are the primary source of climate change scenarios which make projections about the degree and timing of climate change. Agriculture has always been dependent on the variability of the climate for the growing season and the state of the land at the start of the growing season. The key for adaptation for crop production to climate change is the predictability of the conditions. What is required is an understanding of the effect on the changing climate on land, water, and temperature.
Chapter Preview
Top

Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation Strategies

In spite of recent technological and scientific advances, weather is still the most important variable in crop production. The climatic factor affects crop and determines the adequacy of food supplies into major ways. One is through weather hazards to crops and the other is the control exercised by climate on the type of agriculture feasible or viable in a given area. Climatic parameters have an influence on all stages of the crop production chain including land preparation, sowing, crop growth and management, harvesting, storage, transport and marketing. To improve communities’ resilience, decision-makers must anticipate the impacts and encourage decisions that improve the region will enhance to cope and adapt, such as the development of early warning systems. Adaptation can either be proactive or reactive, and the form, of response, can take place within natural systems or within humans. Reactions within the human system can be motivated by either public or private interests, and they can be planned or autonomous.

Complete Chapter List

Search this Book:
Reset