By Arooj Zulfiqar

ISLAMABAD, July 20: The impacts of climate change are making Pakistan more susceptible, particularly endangering the food security.

Climate change is one of the biggest environmental issues facing the modern world. The effects of climate change on water supplies are widely felt in many countries including Pakistan. As a predominantly agrarian country, Pakistan is heavily affected by climate change.

Dr Nurullah, Senior Scientific Officer at National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), told WealthPK that food supply and people's lives are disrupted by climate change, and an increase in extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts, makes it more challenging for them to generate a stable income to buy food.

“Due to unfavorable weather, Pakistan's mango output fell by 50% this year, which would result in lower exports and foreign exchange revenue,” he mentioned.

This year, summer began earlier than normal and was very intense. This early temperature increase caused a drop in mango yield.

Dr Nurullah stated that the primary cause of the production decline was climate change, which is causing temperatures to rise and fall in erratic patterns. He said frequently occurring windstorms also had an impact on fruit production.
Changes in the global climate are caused by the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), which include rising levels of gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

Talking to WealthPK, Muhammad Bilal Iqbal, Scientific Officer at NARC, said food production is more impacted by changes in temperature, precipitation, water availability, and population numbers.

“The agricultural sector in Pakistan is adversely affected by climate change. The already malnourished segments of Pakistani population could be further affected by climate change,” he added.

Bilal Iqbal said grain output in agrarian regions is significantly impacted by increase in temperature, creating problems like food shortage. He said widespread changes in weather patterns are linked to the growing global average temperature.

“This year, Pakistan received less than normal rainfall, which caused water shortage and increased temperature,” he said.

“We should develop seed varieties that are flood and drought-resistant, and heat-tolerant. We need to consider climate change a serious issue. We haven’t made adequate policies or strategies to cope with this issue,” he pointed out.

The intensity of rainfall is quite high in some places, and in some other places, it is quite low.

“So according to our agriculture system, we are not developing climate-resilient varieties,” he said.

Keeping in view the detrimental effects of climate change on crops in Pakistan, the government should promote the concept of climate-smart agriculture by placing a greater priority on research and development.

The impact of climate change on Pakistan's agriculture has already been significant, and the country will need to find creative solutions to protect the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on agriculture.

Credits: INP-WealthPk