Reviewing Climate Change Related Shifts in the Agricultural System and Livelihood of the Farming Community

摘要

The threat of climate change is particularly in the areas of agriculture, land use, energy consumption, biodiversity, health and water resources. Poor people who depend on agriculture as a means of livelihood are the most vulnerable to the challenges stemming from climate change. The impacts of climate change will surely be felt in almost all the geographical location as well as sectors of the nation's development. Specifically it will manifest in the following ways; burning fossil fuels, deforestation and a growing world populations. There are four major causes of climate change namely; astronomical causes, volcanic eruptions, variations in solar output and changes in earth's environment as a result of human activity. The intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) says that human activity is the main cause of the changes seen in climate. This it does through activities that cause emissions of greenhouse gases (mainly consist of carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide). Climate change impacts the four key dimensions of food security, namely food availability, food stability, food accessibility, and food utilization. Availability of agricultural products is affected by climate change directly through its impacts on crop yields, crop pests and diseases, and soil fertility and water-holding properties. It is also affected by climate change indirectly through its impacts on economic growth, income distribution, and agricultural demand. In addition, stability of crop yields and food supplies is negatively affected by variable weather conditions. Therefore, climate change mitigation can be partly achieved through the reduction of greenhouse emissions from agriculture by encouraging environmental friendly agricultural practices. The need for effective adaptive measures to changes in climatic condition cannot be overemphasized as the challenges posed by vagaries of climate has an adverse effect on food security, livelihood, labor productivity, poverty and the economy in general. It is recommended that policy measures on climate change adaptation should be very supportive of climatic information dissemination as successful adaptation to climate change depends on reaching the most vulnerable, who may not have easy access to and appropriate understanding of existing climate information.