An exhaustive study, carried out by a team of scientists at the University of British Columbia, gives shocking revelations about the impact of extreme weather conditions on crops across the world. The study analyzed 2,800 weather disasters between 1964 and 2007 and gives some mind-boggling observations.
University geographer Dr. Ramankutty, co-author of the report, and his research team used records from the international disaster database and particulars about food production from United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for the study.
The results revealed that droughts, on an average, bring down a country’s crop production by as much as 10%. Also, heat waves account for a drop of 9%, and floods along with cold spells had minimal effect on agricultural production levels. From 1964 to 2007, the world lost more than three billion tons of cereal production due to droughts and heat waves.
The study has a number of serious implications on global food shortage. Dr. Ramankutty argues that despite using water, oil, energy, and land for production of crops, we’re not really feeding anyone as extreme weather events continue to destroy nearly 1/10th of our crops. Global population is on the rise and the increasing demand for food won’t be matched if we continue in this fashion.
The study also revealed that droughts occurring since 1985 were more severe than earlier one. It also states that the effect of droughts was far more severe in developed nations, as compared to under-developed nations. Dry spells led to a loss of close to 20% in North America, Europe, and Australasia. However, similar spells caused a loss of 12% in Asia and 9% in Africa.
The study is of huge prominence as it takes into account big chunks of data and uses it to ascertain the potential impact of extreme weather conditions in the future. Food price shocks, global food shortage, and agricultural policies of a state are all related to the impact of extreme weather conditions on global crops.
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