" Climate Change A Serious Concern to Food Security" Loss in wheat production May up to 35Million Metric tons

     “Climate Change A Serious  

     Concern To Food security”

                     Loss in wheat production may up to 
        35 million metric tons globally 

Picture source ; Tracking down Ms. Seaman followed the clouds to some wheat fields near Gurley, NebraskaAdd caption

The world’s population is expected to hit more than 9 billion people by 2050, which, coupled with the higher caloric intake of increasingly wealthy people, is likely to drastically increase food demand over the coming decades said Hiroyuki Konuma, the assistant director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Asia-Pacific.

Increased food demand comes at a time when the world is investing less in agricultural research, prompting fear among scientists that global food security could be imperiled.

Asseng et al.  a recent study published in Nature Climate Change, concludes that global warming “is already slowing yield gains at a majority of wheat-growing locations,” and estimates that worldwide wheat production will “fall by 6% for each °C of further temperature increase.” The study’s basic physical argument is that higher temperatures accelerate plant maturation, allowing fewer days for biomass accumulation and, thus, reducing yields. World wheat production is 700 million tons and if there is fall of 5%in wheat production will result in a production loss of 35 million tons .

The report, from the Global Harvest Initiative, states that with a world population expected to be at least 9 billion people in 2050, the demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel will likely outpace food production if the current rate of output remains the same.

Concerns around food security have grown in recent years, with food price spikes focusing attention on rising food demand and how this will be met. Institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have published projections of an increase in global food demand out to 2050. The FAO projections indicate that world food demand may increase by 70 percent by 2050, with much of the projected increase in global food demand expected to come from rising consumer incomes in regions such as Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

Major threats ;  it is predicted that physical impact of climate change will be seen as ------

 (1) An increase in the average surface temperature by 2-4 degrees C,

 (2) Changes in rainfall (both distribution and frequency) during  both  

     monsoon and non-monsoon months.

 (3) A decrease in the number of rainy days by more than 15 days

 (4) An increase in the intensity of rain by 1-4mm/day .

 (5) The increase in the frequency and intensity of cyclonic storms.

  Because of climate change, Indian agriculture is doubly vulnerable. First as around 60 percent of India’s total agricultural areas are rain-fed, it is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts on monsoon. Secondly, more than 80 percent of farmers in India are small and marginal (having less than 1 ha of land) thus having less capacity to cope with climate change impacts on agriculture. India’s 200 backward districts as ranked by the Planning Commission are distinguished for the large-scale practice of rain-fed agriculture. With the changing food habits and market conditions, farmers prefer wheat or rice in most parts of the country. In most agro-climatic regions, farmers have stopped the cultivation of millets which are suitable to a particular agro-climatic region. Climate change is projected to have serious implications for these major crops especially wheat. The studies have already projected greater losses in  wheat yield (Rabi crops) as compared to rice (Kharif crops.)

source ; FAO

India is considered to be the second largest producer of wheat and the national production of wheat is about  90 million tons with an average productivity  of  2708 kg/ha. The impact of climate change would be profound, and only a 1°C rise in temperature could reduce wheat yield in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana. An assessment of the impact of climate change on wheat production states that the country's annual wheat output could plunge by approx 7 million tons per year with every 1°C rise in temperature. Or around $1.5 billion at current price

In India, rice production is slated to decrease by almost a ton / hectare if the temperature goes up to 2°C. By 2050 about half of India’s prime wheat production area could get heat-stressed, with the cultivation window getting shorter, affecting productivity.

How we can overcome these alarming climatic changes;

 Crop production is dictated by Nature, but post-production operations play an important role in creating a stable food supply. It is estimated that about 25.0 million tons of wheat are lost globally during postharvest stages (including storage and post-production. About 46 percentage of this loss is recorded in developing countries.( In Asia wheat, rice and maize are the major food grains contributing over 90 percent )

The world is losing 25 to 33 percent of the food it produces – nearly 4 billion metric tons - according to estimates from the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) and the World Resources Institute. Most of the wastage takes place at the consumption stage (35 percent), followed by production and handling and storage (both 24 percent). Post-harvest losses in India amount to 12 to 16 million metric tons of food grains out of which   total wheat losses during post-harvest is about  5.51 million tons .

Each year, an amount that the World Bank estimates could feed one-third of India's poor. The monetary value of these losses amounts to more than Rs. 50,000 crores per year (Singh, 2010).

 “The amount of food wasted and lost globally is shameful,” Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, said in a statement.

“Millions of people around the world go to bed hungry every night, and yet millions of tons of food end up in trash cans or spoiled on the way to market. We have to tackle this problem in every country in order to improve food security and to end poverty,” Kim added.

The importance of reducing postharvest food losses as a necessary step in ensuring future global food security in a sustainable manner.  Given the challenges posed by climate change and limited land and water resources, food security cannot be achieved merely through increases in agricultural productivity.  Attention also needs to be given to measures to reduce losses along the farm-to-consumer chain.  Reduced losses not only reflect an increase in food available for human consumption, but they also reflect a more judicious use of our limited natural resources.

In India, total wheat losses during post-harvest are about  5.51 million tons  

Indian  waste as much food as the whole of United Kingdom consumes – a statistic that may not so much indicative of our love of surfeit, as it is of our population. Still, food wastage is an alarming issue in India. Our street and garbage bins, landfills have sufficient proof to prove it.

Weddings, canteens, hotels, social and family functions, households spew out so much food.  According to the United Nations Development Programme, up to 40% of the food produced in India is wasted. About 21 million tons of wheat is wasted in India and 50% of all food across the world meets the same fate and never reaches the needy. In fact, according to the agriculture ministry, Rs. 50,000 crore worth of food produced is wasted every year in the country. India ranks 63 among 88 countries in Global Hunger Index. Wastage of food is not indicative of only hunger or pollution, but also many economic problems in the economy, such as inflation. Only government policies are not responsible for the problems we are facing today, but our culture and traditions are also playing a lead role in this drama. In India, the bigger the wedding, the larger the party and the more colossal the waste.

Here’s what one can do on a more personal level to contain the food wastage:

• Plan out your meal and make your shopping list to determine what you actually need for the week. About 20% of what we buy in urban India ends up being thrown away.
• Buy in quantities you can realistically use. Avoid impulse buys.
• If you cook at home, make sure you cook keeping in mind there is no excess.
• Select according to their shelf life. Use the green vegetables first. Don’t throw out fruits and veggies with ‘aesthetic only’ blemishes. Use canned and bottled food before expiry dates.
• Reuse the refrigerated leftover (if any) for the very next meal.
• Even if food gets spoilt then compost it.
• If you work in an office that has a canteen, check with them on how they manage excess food. Cooked food, especially since it has a low shelf life needs to be managed better and faster. Check with NGOs who offer to transport excess food to the needy.
• If you host a family get together either at home, a marriage hall or throw a party at a hotel, make sure you plan for the food to be transported to a place like an orphanage or an old age shelter.
• Make finishing your plate a habit. Try to inculcate it further to as many possible.

 Conclusion ; overall, it may be concluded that food security in India can be achieved by paying higher attention to issues which are more or less in our control such as  crop diversification, Control post harvest losses and food wastage , more efficient water use, and improved soil management practices, together with the development of drought-resistant crops can help reduce some of the negative impacts.

There is a strong need to regulate the policies related to globalization for reducing its negative effects on food security in India.