Climate Change and  its  Effect on Food Safety

Climate Change and  its  Effect on Food Safety

Introduction

The usual environmental conditions of a given zone are termed as climate. The climatic condition of the given zone influence many activities carried out within the area. Food production as one of the events which are highly dependent on climate change; climate leads to a variation of quantity of food produced annually; therefore, the environment is labeled as a factor of production in agricultural sectors. Some of the weather conditions, such as high Rainfall annually, stream drought, and intense sunshine, contribute either high or low food production (Suryanarayana, 2016).

Rain is typical of great advantage to crops and pitches; there is a required amount of Rainfall in any given farming season for most farm produce. If the annual Rainfall is plentiful lower or higher than the supreme, this can result in substantial problems, ere crops to lower harvests.

Effect of High Rainfall in Crop Production

Poor societies in emerging economies mainly depend on climate-sensitive, such as agriculture, to enhance their living, especially unfavorable climate change in their annual farming. It has been stated that at least four people in a given zone are dependent on agriculture in one way or another. Rainfall variability affects the production of traditional crops, therefore, creating a significant effect on poor society.

Rainfall is one of the aspects of distressing soil erosion crop production under rain-fed agriculture. High Rainfall erodes the upper layer of soil, which is rich in nutrients, thus enchasing stunted growth in crops. Stunted growth facilitate low production per farming season therefore high Rainfall is disadvantageous to crop and the fertile soil which is also the habitat for living microorganisms which undergoes a various process to enhance fixation of nitrogen in the ground.

In high land area, high Rainfall erodes soil, thus uprooting crops such as maize, this action exposes crop roots to direct sunlight which stimulates excessive evaporation of water from the sources. Finally, the plants die due to excessive water loss. The process also weakens the crops, thus making them bend; this lowers there photosynthetic are which is exposed to sunlight through the action crop production is reduced.

High Rainfall is not only disadvantageous but is also advantageous to some crops such as rice. In rice production, the high moisture content is the one required; therefore, high Rainfall in rice production enhances the availability of the necessary amount of water.

High moisture content in the soil

Rainfall is commonly seen as a value to crops and fields though is an ideal n any farming season to most plants .therefore high Rainfall is of benefit to rice production as compared to other crops such as maize. Vegetables such as rice require high rain in their growing period. Plants such as maize need a little amount of water; thus, high Rainfall in maize plantation encourages leaching of fertilizers and nutrients.

High rainfall result in flooding in low-level lands, too much wet on crops lead to mold or fungus attach. The soil also starts collecting bacteria’s shape, and mildew which is absorbed by the plants. Poor drainage contributes to disease attack and spread. This adds to the low harvest. Therefor food shortage is experienced in an imperfect society (Vassileva, 2015).

The spread of pests and diseases in the field is activated by high Rainfall which results in flooding in plat land. The range of these diseases result from dropping in crop yield; thus, high Rainfall is disadvantageous to some crops. Alongside conditions, Rainfall can determine the rate of growth in plants to it’s harvesting stage from seed reaping phase moderate rainfall intensity can lead to faster growth in crops which can cut down on germination time to harvesting time.

The yields are reliant on the water throughout their whole lifecycle  to survive the blossom(Robertson, 2010)

Rainfall intensity

Soil can also be affected by Rainfall if the earth contains too much moisture nutrients in the soil can run off and thus not benefiting the plant’s root leading to weak growth in crops. Also, the overall crop production will be affected.

Harvesting Season and Rainfall requirement

During the harvesting stage, the low moisture content is what crops require. Drought season is the correct time to enhance harvesting, harvesting during rainy seasons too much moisture on vegetables leads to rotting, thus rotting lower food production; therefore, shortage of food is experienced.

Conclusion

Climate change is seen to have significantly impacted on food safety. This is achieved mainly through weather conditions such as high Rainfall. It is well known the damages which are lead by reduced rainfall intensity such as high Rainfall in farming this determines the production of the crop. On the other hand, drought results in high moisture loss in the soil thus minimize the moisture in the ground, thus regulate growth rate in the crop, therefore, lowering crop yields

References

Nash, D., Hannah, M., Robertson, F., & Rifkin, P. (2010). A Bayesian network for comparing dissolvenitrogen exports from high rainfall cropping in southeastern Australia. Journal of environmental quality, 39(5), 1699-1710.

Annicchiarico, P., Alami, I. T., Abbas, K., Pecetti, L., Melis, R. A. M., & Porqueddu, C. (2017). Performance of legume-based annual forage crops in three semi-arid Mediterranean environments.

Vassilev, S. V., Vassileva, C. G., & Vassilev, V. S. (2015). Advantages and disadvantages of composition and properties of biomass in comparison with coal: An overview. Fuel, 158, 330-350.

Suryanarayana, T. M. V., & Mistry, P. B. (2016). Principal component regression for crop yield estimation. Springer.