Climate change both sides of the coin

Abstract

Climate change and agriculture One of the biggest concerns about climate change is how agriculture will be affected in the future. Many projections have suggested that future climate change will cause fluctuations in crop yield and quality in grains (maize, wheat and soya) and fruit (mangoes, citrus, avocados and grapes). Will the expected changes favour or inhibit crop yields in South Africa? Can we do anything to adapt to the changes? Hot topics like this have sparked interest in the response of agriculture to climate change, especially since South Africa benefits so much from the agriculture industry. Interest in this respect has resulted in the undertaking of this project, as commissioned by the Water Research Commission (WRC) and headed by Dr Peter Johnston (UCT), Prof Daan Louw (US) and Prof Roland Schulze (UKZN). The project (no K5/1882/14) is entitled ‘ Adaptive interventions in agriculture to reduce vulnerability of different farming systems to climate change in South Africa.

Authors

Categories