Impact on agriculture

• Impact on China
• Impact on Ningxia

Introduction

As a consequence of climate change, agriculture is facing considerable shifts in many of the key climate parameters that control output. These include a lengthening of the growing season of many crops, a change in the timing of seasons, an increase in frost free days and alteration to rainfall patterns.

The effect of these changes is likely to be considerable in China, in which a large amount of land at the agricultural fringe is farmed. Rural communities may suffer from a lack of adaptive capacity to respond to the changes.

Regional climate and crop modelling for China were used to estimate the degree of change that rural communities are facing. The project also developed socio-economic scenarios so as to place the impact of climate change in a wider context.