BEIJING: A global panel of agrarians has called for innovation-driven green transition of the world’s agri-food system as part of the efforts to curb carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change on food production.
While some food-producing regions have initially benefited from warmer weather, the substantial uncertainties caused by global warming are disrupting agriculture across Asia, Africa and South America, the experts said. They made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2024 World AgriFood Innovation Conference, or WAFI, held in Beijing earlier this month. The event was organized by China Agricultural University.
Sun Qixin, president of China Agricultural University and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told China Daily that mainstream models indicate a 6 to 8 percent decrease in food production for every 1 C increase in global temperatures, unless technological innovations are introduced to alleviate these effects. “However, the impact of a warmer climate is not uniform across the globe,” he said.
Despite instances of warmer and wetter climate boosting food production in some areas, which were previously cold and prone to drought, the sudden and extreme shifts in weather patterns are causing widespread disruptions in food production globally, Sun noted.
For example, unprecedented droughts and prolonged heat waves this year led to crop failures in Brazil and China’s Henan and Shandong provinces. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
