Understanding role of climatic parameters and adaptation strategies in agriculture productivity of South Asian countries

Abstract

ABSTRACTSouth Asia, a most populated region has varied geography ranging from higher mountains to low lying coastal areas but economies are primarily dominated by agriculture. Chiefly dependent on agriculture for livelihood make the region highly vulnerable region to changing climate and cause threats to financial, ecological and social systems. Ever increasing population, put higher pressure to food security influenced by global climate change. The climate-induced variables disturb macroeconomic factors like food consumption and GDP as well as microeconomic factors like food prices and crop production. The impact of changing climate on crop production, yield and in climate variable, specifically temperature and rainfall, are addressed in this chapter. The positive and negative trends observed on crop yield are, 85% reduction for rice and maize yield in Afghanistan, up to 60% reduction in wheat yield in Bangladesh, 20–25% cotton yield loss in India, while 58% increase in sugarcane production in Pakistan. The economic losses face by South Asian countries are predicted to be 9.4% for Bangladesh, 6.6%for Bhutan, 8.7% for India, 12.6% for the Maldives, 9.9% for Nepal, and 6.5% for Sri Lanka. The implication of existing policies with research and development, market-based strategies and community-based options are necessary to enhance better results.

Keywords

• Agriculture
• Climate change
• GDP
• Food security
• Temperature
• Rainfall