Introduction
Currently, there are unpredictable climatic changes that have considerably reduced agriculture production worldwide. A reduction in food production has resulted in increased food insecurity in many regions worldwide. The existing incidents of food insecurities in many countries have resulted in grave consequences such as deaths of wildlife, livestock and people which have severe economic costs. It is noted that peasant farmers who are in third world countries are the ones who are highly affected by the episode for lack of resources to mitigate adverse effects of the climatic changes. Because of the high food insecurity worldwide concerned bodies such as World Food Council as well as affected governments are working day and night to come up with appropriate measures to address the prevalent food shortages globally. These institutions have come up with various recommendations to address the grave situation. Increasing biodiversity is one of the propositions that has been recommended to reduce food shortages. Biodiversity helps to adapt agriculture to the existing severe environmental conditions. Another excellent and reliable option that has been recommended to stop food shortages in affected countries is combining various crops varieties in one field. This strategy assists in increasing the resilience of crops to erratic weather changes. Further studies have revealed that the best strategy to increase stress tolerance in single crop verities is the use of modern breeding technologies that do not support genetic breeding for example Market Assisted Selection. Climatic changes have heightened food insecurities in many countries; the changes have attracted many scholars to the matter prompting studies that have shown that mixed cropping, as well as the use of modern technologies, is the most appropriate strategies to stop the existing global food insecurities (Bloom, 2008).
Causes of Climatic Changes
It is observed that over the past decades, man’s activities such as farming, mining as well as manufacturing have had severe environmental consequences. Man’s activities have resulted in a great increase in the production and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The rise in greenhouse gas emissions has been associated with an increase in the mean global temperature of approximately 4 ‘C. The raises in global temperature have resulted in a decrease in agriculture production (Darwin, 2001). Global warming has caused changes in growing seasons as well as the length of period the soil moisture and soil temperature are suitable for crops growth. High global temperatures result in extreme weather events such as an increase in storms and floods. Floods have damaged crops as well as raised the sea level, thereby reducing the land available for agriculture. It is noted that high atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide improve the water usage efficiency of all crops by decreasing evapotranspiration and thereby increasing the rate of photosynthesis of the crops (McCutcheon, 2010). However, the direct effect is usually minimal in areas where the use of fertilizers is low or in other areas where some factors limit crop growth. Similarly, the detrimental consequences of other greenhouse gases such as sulfur often offset the benefits of the high concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere thus, reducing the quantity of the harvest. Therefore, it is apparent that the prevailing unpredictable climatic changes, as well as erratic weather conditions, have affected agriculture production adversely. These conditions have changed the growing season, caused floods that have destroyed crops as well as raised the sea level which has caused a reduction of land available for farming. All these effects have resulted in high food shortages in many parts of the world (Meakin and Kurvits, 2002).
Mitigation strategies of food insecuritie
The increase in food insecurity worldwide has resulted in government as well as bodies concerned coming up with appropriate strategies to counter the menace. Concerned governments, as well as agencies, have recommended farmers to switch from traditional crops verities and methods of farming and adopt new crop verities that are resilient to climatic changes as well as switch to modern technologies of farming. Most governments of the concerned nations have helped farmers to avail reliable environmental information 6 to 8 months in advance in order to help them make informed decisions on when to plant as well as the verities of crops to plant depending on the projections of the weather data they receive. Concerned governments have encouraged the adoption of agronomic research for enhancing traditional verities in order to come up with better verities that are able to survive the effects of global warming. The use of agronomy has been observed to help in increasing the efficiency of crops’ usage of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Moreover, in an effort to mitigate the high global food insecurity, most governments have supported farmers by constructing dams that help in controlling floods as well as providing water for irrigation which have greatly helped in raising food production (Dancey, 2006).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that there is a very high rate of food insecurity in the world as a result of various men’s activities that have caused global warming. Global warming has in turn reduced agriculture production resulting in food shortages worldwide. In order to mitigate the situation, appropriate bodies, as well as governments, have implemented suitable strategies such as agronomic as well as the construction of dams in order to increase food production.
List of Reference
Bloom, A 2008 Global Climatic Change, Sinauer Associates Inc Publishers California,
Dancey, G 2006 Solutions to Global Warming, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Darwin, R 2001 Climatic Change and Food Insecurity, Researches of agriculture information, vol.765, no 8, pp.123-135.
McCutcheon, C 2010 Answers For Global warming, Prentice Hall, New York.
Meakin, S & Kurvits, T 2002 Climatic Changes in Canada, Prentice Hall, New York.