Kumar, S and Pramanik, S and Khan, P E and Nedumaran, S and Das, A and Paithankar, P and Kumar, Abhay and Jain, A and Avinandan, V (2023) ICRISAT and WFP: India Working Paper Effect of Climate Change on Food Stability in the Context of Food Security in India. Working Paper. World Food Programme.
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Global Research Program - Enabling Systems Transformation
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Abstract
Climate change is a global threat adversely impacting all sectors of the economy and livelihoods (Nema et al., 2012). Global climate change is a change in the long-term weather patterns that characterize the regions of the world. Scientists state unequivocally that the earth is warming. Natural climate variability alone cannot explain this trend. Human activities, especially the burning of coal and oil, are considered to have warmed the earth by dramatically increasing the concentrations of heattrapping gases in the atmosphere (Vijayavenkataraman et al. 2012). However, the human activity in all the sectors of the economy is contributing to global warming, after the fossil fuels, food system is the next big contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG ) emission- a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions (Crippa et al, 2021). The global warming and climate change resulting in extreme weather events and increased climatic variability and have enormous adverse impacts on multiple sectors including agricultural and food production, food and nutrition security and the livelihoods especially in the less developed regions and countries. It is becoming a major global challenge that has far-reaching multifaceted impacts on all aspects of human life, including food security (Sanober, 2023). India, which is one of the largest agricultural producers in the world, is highly vulnerable to changing climate especially its food production systems. Several studies have assessed and established a relationship between gradual climate change and crop yields (e.g., Aggarwal, 2008; Praveen & Sharma, 2020; Guiteras, 2009; Kumar et al., 2011; Kumar et al., 2004; Mall et al., 2006). Therefore, for the country, which is home to more than 1.3 billion people, ensuring food security for its growing population under the changing climate is a major challenge and a daunting talk for the policy makers. Food security refers to the availability of food and people’s access to it, with the assurance that this access will not diminish in the future. In other words, food security is a physical, environmental, economic, and social issue. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Shaw, 2007). Sufficient food refers to both the quantity and quality required for good health. In general, the food security is the combinations of four dimensions named as physical availability of food (availability), economic and physical access to food (accessibility), food utilization (utilization) and Stability of the other three dimensions over time and food security objectives to be achieved when all four dimensions must be fulfilled simultaneously at all levels from national to regional to household level. The impacts of climate change on stability of food production in India are likely to have significant and far-reaching consequences. The country, which is already facing high level of malnutrition, is now being threatened by the adverse effects of climate change on its food production systems, in terms of reduced crop yields, soil degradation, and increased vulnerability to pests and diseases. These impacts are likely to cause significant challenges to food production stability, leading to food scarcity, increased food prices, and further food insecurity, particularly for the most vulnerable populations (Godde et al., 2021). In addition to rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns have significant impact on food production in India. Unpredictable rainfall, droughts, and floods are all affecting the availability of water for irrigation and crops. Droughts are particularly damaging to food production in India, as they cause crop failures and reduce yields, leading to food scarcity and food insecurity (Arora 2019; Datta et al., 2022). On the other hand, floods can also have a major impact causing damage to crop, disrupt transportation and food supply chains, and increase the risk of waterborne diseases, all of which can further exacerbate the challenges faced by farm and food systems in India. The stability dimension of food security is a critical aspect of food security policy of the country. A higher risk of instability of production due climate change may result in high price volatility not only due to short supply but also the changing market perception. Considering the significance of all these aspects, the present research concentrates on the effect of climate change and variability on the fourth dimension of food security, i.e., stability. Food stability is when a population, household, or individual has access to food at all times and does not risk losing access as a consequence of cyclical events, such as the dry season. When some lacks food stability, they are likely to have malnutrition, a lack of essential nutrients. There have been a wide range of studies worldwide to find out the impacts of climate change on food security and its various dimensions. Several of them conclude that the impacts are different for different dimensions of food security. An exhaustive review on the impacts of climate change on food security and its various dimensions by Radin Firdaus et al., 2019- a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from several countries provides an overview of how these changes have affected each dimension, such as availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability. Climatic changes have negative impacts on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN), particularly in poorer populations in situations of social inequality. The main impacts of climate changes on FSN are related to access, production, nutritional quality, and volatility of food prices (Alpino et al., 2022). However, there is hardly any evidence available on the impact of climate change and variability on food stability at the country level, which is critical for designing suitable food security policies. Therefore, we attempt to fill this evidence gap by undertaking a study to evaluate the impact of climate change on food stability status at districts level in India for various major food crops.
| Item Type: | Monograph (Working Paper) |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | Global Research Program - Enabling Systems Transformation |
| CRP: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Series Name: | ICRISAT and WFP: India Working Paper |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Climate Change, Food Stability, Food Security, India |
| Subjects: | Others > Food and Nutrition Others > Climate Change Others > Food Security Others > India |
| Depositing User: | Mr Nagaraju T |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Dec 2023 04:35 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Dec 2023 04:44 |
| URI: | http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/12325 |
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