Global Warming and Agriculture
Nature is finally unleashing its wrath and no one, not even the agricultural world, is spared.
Over the years, climate researchers have warned about the rising of global temperature. This phenomenon is known as global warming-the heating of the earth’s surface due to the increased emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
These greenhouse gases are emitted from various sources such as industrial processes, energy generation, fuel combustion from transportation, forest fires, waste decomposition, and also from natural activities such as volcanic eruptions and changes ill solar radiation.
Experts are now admonishing everyone that global warming is starting to cause catastrophic climate changes: Ice caps are gradually melting, flooding some low-lying areas. Crops are now withering, where food supplies begin to dwindle.
What these mean is that global warming poses significant impacts affecting agriculture as it strikes the carrying capacity of the biosphere to produce enough food for the human population and domesticated animals.
Harvest Reductions
Most agronomists believe that agricultural productions are mostly affected by the severity and pace of global warming. As earth’s average temperature has been rising since the late 1970s, India and United States, for instance, suffered abrupt harvest reductions because of drought in 2002.
Meanwhile, in 2003, Europe experienced very low rainfall all through the spring and summer, and a record level of heat damaged most crops from the United Kingdom and France in the Western Europe through Ukraine in the East. Also, bread prices have been increasing in several countries in the region.
Outnumbered
As the rising concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is taking place, it could encompass negative effect to the plants.
CO2 is essential to plant growth; the more the CO2, the more they augment the rate of photosynthesis. However, as per the record, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is 380 parts per million (ppm) which is contrary to the amount of oxygen that is 210,000 ppm. This means that plants may be starved of carbon dioxide, being outnumbered by the photosynthetic pollutant oxygen.
Moreover, experts have shown that higher CO2 levels direct to reduce plant intake of nitrogen, resulting in crops with lower nutritional value. Reduced nitrogen content in grazing plants could further reduce animal producti-6ty, noting animals to be the major consumer of plants.
Rise in sea level
By 2100, sea levels are expected to get up to one meter higher from now, although this projection is not clear-cut. Rise in sea level would result in agricultural land loss. Erosion, submergence of shorelines, and salinity of the water table due to the increased sea levels, could mainly affect agriculture through inundation of low-lying lands.
Because of the extremes of climate that would result, the increase in precipitations would probably result in greater risks of erosion, whilst at the same time providing soil with better hydration, according to the intensity of the rain.
Increased pressure
Global warming would cause an increase in rainfall in some areas, which would lead to a step up of atmospheric humidity and the duration of the wet seasons. Combined with higher temperatures, these could favor the development of fungal diseases. Similarly, because of higher temperatures and humidity, there could be an increased pressure from insects and disease vectors.
Meanwhile, some scientists think agriculture could be affected by any decrease in stratospheric ozone, which could increase biologically dangerous ultraviolet radiation B. Excess ultraviolet radiation B can directly, effect plant physiology and cause massive amounts of mutations, and indirectly through changed pollinator behavior, though such changes are difficult to quantify. However, it has not vet been ascertained whether an increase in greenhouse gases would decrease stratospheric ozone levels.
In addition, a possible effect of rising temperatures is significantly higher levels of ground-level ozone, which would substantially lower yields.
Many Problems
Right now, the Philippines is experiencing dry spell. According to a recent report of
Most agronomists believe that agricultural productions are mostly affected by the severity and pace of global warming.
the United Nations-organized Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it warned that Asia is likely to go through water scarcity, hunger risks and disease problems in the next years considering the rate of global warming.
In fact, most parts of the country received below normal rainfall in the past two months, and the dry spell would likely persist until the third quarter of 2007. All the dams that the country’s weather bureau is monitoring are at their critical levels.
Low inflows of water into the dams that propel hydropower plants such as Angat, Magat, Pantabangan, San Roque and Binga, due to rainfall shortage, also affected power distribution in some areas in Luzon.
Ravages of climate change
The World Wide Fund for Nature, on the other hand, adds that the Philippines is extremely vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, saying global warming threatens to submerge parts of Manila and wipe out entire islands.
Last year, super typhoons “Paeng,” “Queenie” and “Reming” hit the country, leaving thousands of people dead, billions of pesos worth of property damaged, and power and communication lines in different parts of the country cut.
Government scientists say the normal cycle of an El Nino phenomenon is from two to seven years. However, it was observed that the weather phenomenon had become frequent in the last lo years, in which it was succeeded by a La Nina phenomenon.
These include the 1997 to 1998 El Nino phenomenon, which was followed by the i998 to 1999 La Nina; 2000 to 2001 La Nina which was followed by the 2002 to 2003 El Nino phenomenon; 2004 to 2005 El Nino; 2006 to 2007 La Nina, followed by 2006 to 2007 El Nino, and the probable 2007 La Nina phenomenon.
La Nina refers to abnormal cooling of sea surface temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific and is characterized by excessive rainfall. El Nino, on the other hand, is a weather phenomenon associated with the unusual warming in the Equatorial Pacific, which usually brings below normal rainfall.
Bad greenhouse effect
In addition, Capiz Scientists and Inventors Society chairman Jose Aldea faults overpopulation as one of the causes of global warming. In an interview with local media several weeks ago, he said: “The population has exploded uncontrollably and accelerated tenfold. Man has pursued relentless activities, which include burning fossil fuels that raise the carbon dioxide level. Call it a bad greenhouse effect.”
In 2000, the population in the Philippines was at 76.5 million, according to the National Statistics Office. It is expected to reach 88.7 million this year.
