Experts cautioned that as the effects of climate change deepen in the coming years, small farmers worldwide who cultivate thirsty crops like corn would confront a significant adaptation problem.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which commissioned a research on agriculture in southern and eastern Africa, produced a report presented in the UN climate conference in Glasgow.
The analysis predicted that if global warming accelerates, staple crop harvests in eight nations might collapse by as much as 80% by 2050.
This study was done by the University of Cape Town; they analyzed the impact of climate on agriculture in Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Angola, Zambia, and Uganda.
“When there is an immediate injection of cash, it will help vulnerable farmers modify how as well as what they grow,” it stated, “this might have a devastating effect on food and poverty availability.”
It predicted a 2 C (3.8-degree Fahrenheit) rise by 2069, with certain areas experiencing temperature rises of up to 2.6 degrees Celsius.
“The eight nations studied are quite different, landlocked, coastal, mountainous, or semi-arid,” IFAD, a specialized UN agency, stated.
“Rainfall will be scarcer but more unpredictable, with flash floods posing a hazard to crops and soil stability,” the report stated.
Corn, also known as maize, requires a lot of water to produce, putting farmers under increased pressure to move to early maturing strains or to more durable crops like cassava, peanuts, beans, sorghum, and millet.
However, switching crops is easier said than done, as market preferences can be strong, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Farmers confront a slew of financial and technical challenges as they consider making the conversion, from seed advice to tool acquisition to harvest processing and storage to avoid spoilage.
Rich countries pledged in 2015 to raise $100 billion in climate aid for poorer countries per year by 2020.
According to the research, that objective remains unmet and, in any event, is well below what will be required.
Less developed economies are expected to require between $140 and $300 billion per year by 2030 to address the effects of climate change.
Only $1 of every $18 spent on combating climate change is currently spent on adaptation; the rest is spent on cutting the carbon emissions that create the problem.
