Human contributions to climate change and its effects on agriculture

Introduction

Climate change which is also referred to as global warming is the rise in the average surface temperatures of the earth and this happens when humans release a huge amount of carbon pollution and thereby trapping enough heat in the atmosphere stopping it from escaping and of course when the heat remains in the atmosphere for a long period of time, it is likely to cause climate change. Agriculture and climate change both affect each other one way or the other and it is important to strike a balance between them in order to avoid adverse environmental conditions globally.

As a result of human interference, climate change has caused some detrimental issues in our everyday life, health, environment, and agriculture at large. Humans have played a very key role to this effect and they basically include the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrialization e t c 

• Burning of fossil fuels:  Fossil fuels are fuels formed naturally through the decomposition of dead plants and animals. Burning of fossil fuels which has a very high composition of carbon dioxideand oxygen, and one of the green house gases that emits radioactive element is more than enough to contribute immensely to climate change.

• Deforestation: The continuous falling of trees without any form of replacement contributes primarily to climate change. As at 2019, deforestation contributes about 11% of global greenhouse gas emission. The major causes of deforestation include livestock ranching for raising of animals and livestock crops for consumer needs, agricultural expansion as a result of the various forest conversions into plantations for palm oil, coffee, rice etc.

• Industrialization: Though industrialization has a positive impact in terms of creating job opportunities, development and innovation, increased food production and availability but still cause adverse environmental effects. As a result of human interference on industrial agriculture, the air, water and soil get polluted with toxic agrochemicals leaving it unhealthy for farming.

 

Negative and Positive Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture

On a global level, climate change and agriculture are interrelated on the basis that they both affect each other. Climate change affects agriculture both positively and negatively in terms of changes in adverse temperatures, rainfalls etc and agriculture also plays its own role when it releases huge amounts of carbon pollution into the atmosphere as a result of human interference.

Negative Effects: Agriculture is regarded as the mainstay of the economy as it dates back to decades in existence, but there are diverse factors that are detrimental to the agricultural sector and one of them happens to be climate change which has its negative effect on agriculture. Climate change has its negative impact on the agricultural sector when it comes to agricultural productivity, drought and flood, reduced access to food and food quality, as well as a disrupt in food availability. 

• Agricultural Productivity: When there is an increase in temperature, there is a change in precipitation patterns and reduction in the availability of water resulting in reduced or low agricultural productivity. For there to be an increase in agricultural productivity, certain factors should be considered such as weather conditions, capacity of the farm land, pests, improved farm equipment etc. 

• Drought and Flood: The prolonged shortage of water supply to a farm land, brings about drought and when that happens there is a disrupt in harvesting of crops, and flood which leads to massive deaths and displacement of livestock and crops.

Positive Effect: Climate change has played very key roles in contributing to the agricultural sector in diverse ways from increased rainfall which is beneficial to growth rate of crops bringing about a possibility of two or more cropping circles in just a season, improved crop productivity, improved crop yield etc. The contribution of climate change in agriculture has brought about expansion for production of tropical and sub tropical crops. 

Reducing Climate Change in Agriculture

The fight against climate change on agriculture is a gradual process and it majorly starts with us as often times we contribute to the disrupt in climate change. There are different ways or practices to follow in order to reduce climate change and they include the following; irrigation management practices, renewable energy, afforestation etc

Irrigation management practices: Water is a valuable resource that should be used only when it is necessary, the need to practice water conservation is a very key as it helps to make water available for agricultural practices. In order to achieve a good irrigation management practice, the need to conserve water usage is very vital in any type of farm especially in times of drought. When irrigation management practice is properly understood, it is easier for food production to be improved as there would be enough water to be released to farm lands during dry seasons, etc.

Renewable energy: Clean energy that comes from natural sources and never depleting but still manages to have negative impact in agriculture. As a result of human interference, most of the machines used in the farm are driven by fossil fuels which contains mixtures if both carbon dioxide and oxygen which contributes mainly to the emission of green house gases bringing about change in climate and thereby affecting the agriculture sector and crops on the farm. 

Reducing climate change through renewable energy can be achieved by minimizing the use of petroleum base- fertilizers and pesticides, and little or no use of fossil fuels as they are very high contributory factors to climate change in storage of farm products.

Reforestation: There is need to maintain a balance between the carbon dioxide and oxygen that is being released to atmosphere and this can be achieved through reforestation process as forest plays a vital role in maintaining such balance. Reforestation which involves replanting an area with trees plays a key role in overcoming deforestation and restoring back natural balance of plant life. 

Reforestation process can be achieved naturally and artificially. Artificially through hand planting, machine planting and naturally through natural seedling, root suckering etc.