The New Nation - Internet Edition

SOUTH Asia and Africa, as scientists have warned, would be 'hardest hit' by an agrarian crisis that is brewing because of global climate change. As reported from India's southern city of Hyderabad where the scientists sounded the stern warning at a conference held at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. 'An agrarian crisis is brewing because of climate change that could jeopardise global food supplies and increase the risk of hunger for a billion poorest of the poor', AFP news agency reported recently quoting the scientists. The crisis of South Asia and Africa would shift the world's priorities away from boosting output year after year to bolstering the resilience of crops to cope with warm weather. Rice, the staple for billions of people, is 'most vulnerable to global warming'. It is the world's most consumed crop and it makes everything else pale in comparison', one expert remarked at the conference on the impact of climate change on farming organised by the research institute.

According to the news agency report, the rice yield could fall quickly in a warmer world unless researchers find alternative varieties or ways to shift the time of rice flowering and the scientists have stressed the need of adequate fund for research. Environmentalists and agricultural scientists are mounting pressure on governments to act quickly to stem carbon emissions responsible for climate change, ahead of next month's global summit in Indonesian island resort of Bali. Bigger budgets are required to combat damage already done and cope with risks into the future. According to the crop research institute, one billion of the world's poorest are vulnerable to the impact of climate change on agriculture from desertification and land degradation to loss of biodiversity and water scarcity.

'Climate change will generally reduce production potential and increase the risk of hunger', said Martin Parry, co-chair of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice-president Al Gore. Where crops are grown near their maximum temperature tolerance and where dry land, non-irrigated agriculture predominates, the challenge of climate change could be overwhelming, specially on substance farmers.

Experts from 15 international agricultural research institutions attended the three-day Hyderabad conference in the run-up to the Bali summit demanding action by governments before it is too late. Researchers would have to concentrate on 'drought-proofing' crops and developing heat-resistant varieties to cope with the problems as the world is rapidly nearing its tolerance threshold for rising temperatures. The people continue to wait for crises to stimulate change, Simon Best, chairman of the crop research institute, remarked concluding - we are already facing the beginning of a crisis, let's not wait longer.