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| Wheat farm pic by Samuel Myles on Unsplash |
V Nilesh | Hyderabad
I recently watched Don't Look Up. I squirmed at Dr. Randall Mindy getting casually ignored by President Orlean as he informed her of a definitive extinction-level event.
The Findings
That's the reel. Reality is worse. Most world leaders acknowledge Climate Change but don't do anything about it.
The daily news always seems like a glimpse into how humans will go bust.
The latest in the series is declining wheat yields due to rising temperatures.
It is one of the many climate crisis SOSs humans regularly receive and choose to ignore.
As I read the news regarding declining wheat yields, I was reminded of one of my unpublished stories from early 2017.
It was based on a study published in Climatic Changes titled Global warming and local air pollution has reduced wheat yields in India by researchers from the Indian School of Business, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre, and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
For some absurd reason that I don't remember now, it wasn't published.
It's still relevant, and I share it here.
This is a to-the-point, condensed version.
The Findings
The quantity of wheat harvested in a span of 28 years (1981–2009), was 5.2% lower than what it could have been.
The lower harvest was due to rising temperatures and air pollution.
That's more than 1 Billion Dollars worth of wheat that India lost to global warming and pollution.
This data is an aggregate for 208 districts in India.
These 208 districts account for more than 90 percent of wheat production in the country.
Rising Temperatures
Rising temperatures don't mean just hotter days. They also mean hotter nights.
Both are dangerous to wheat and many other food crops.
The ISB, ISID, and IIT Delhi researchers point out:
In the 28-year study period, the maximum temperature in wheat-growing regions increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius, and the minimum temperature increased by 1 degree Celsius respectively.
Why is this scary?
According to the study, a 1 degree Celsius rise in the average daily maximum and minimum temperatures
may lower the wheat yields by 2-4% each.
More reasons to be scared
The wheat yield loss due to the rise in temperatures was calculated at a whopping 16% in another study by IIT Delhi researchers.
The study Spatial Analysis of Yield Trends and Impact of Temperature for Wheat Crop Across Indian Districts was published in 2021 in the International Journal of Plant Production. The study period was 50 years, from 1966 to 2015.
According to them, in 145 wheat-growing districts — covering around 77% of the wheat harvested area in India — a 1 degree Celsius rise in mean temperature caused a decline of 251 kg per hectare, which is a 16% loss in yield.
Decreasing wheat yields due to increasing temperatures is bad for the food security of millions of Indians and people from other developing nations that rely on Indian wheat to feed their populations.
Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Indonesia were among the top-10 importers of Indian wheat in 2020-2021.
Lately, even the developed nations have been hopeful of getting Indian wheat due to the war in Ukraine, one of the top wheat exporters in the world.
As India decided to ban Indian wheat exports due to a downfall in production amid severe heatwaves, the G7 nations expressed their unhappiness.
Let's hope that the situation improves in 2022.
Ends/
