2. Impact of Climate Change on Major Crops

Production of Rice 

A study by the International Rice Research Institute showed that increases of 1°C at night during the growing season would reduce global rice yields by 10 per cent. Another global study showed that the production of rice and wheat could fall by eight per cent and 32 per cent respectively by the year 2050. In India, less water could cause a loss of up to 30 per cent of agricultural production, including food grains. [1]

Rice crops are most vulnerable to global warming. Studies worldwide show that rising carbon dioxide levels may initially increase growth, but the benefit is temporary. Rising temperatures make rice spikelets - the slender branches containing rice flowers - sterile, and grain yields will fall.

Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be amongst the most severely affected by climate change. About 90 per cent of the world's rice is grown and consumed in Asia (where 70 per cent of the world's poor live), and sub-Saharan Africa is the world's fastest growing rice consumer. The most vulnerable agricultural systems are the rain-fed uplands and lowlands that form almost 80 per cent of total rice land in Africa. [2]