The Time is Now: Lessons from Farmers Adapting to Climate Change
Agriculture in the developing world is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that in some countries in Africa, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 per cent by 2020, and in Central and South Asia, crop yields could fall by up to 30 per cent by 2050 as a result of climate change. India alone could lose 18 per cent of its rain-fed cereal production.
Seventy per cent of the world’s extreme poverty is found in agricultural areas where farmers depend on rain for their harvests – and where too much or too little rain spells disaster. ActionAid’s field work confirms that climate-induced declines in crop production are already happening today. In the face of this threat, farmers have begun to respond to failing crops and increased hunger by adopting sustainable, low-input agriculture techniques that increase their food security.
