Weary of seeing grocery prices climb while your buying power dwindles?
Brace yourself.
Amid the debate about ways to reduce climate change comes a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) indicating that food prices could more than triple by 2050 as the climate changes.
The report, Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation, was developed for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Even without the effects of climate change, food prices still are expected to rise, by 40 per cent for wheat, and 60 per cent for both rice and corn by 2050, as the world population grows.
However, by drawing on climate and crop models, IFPRI predicts a much worse scenario, forecasting wheat prices to rise 170 to 194 per cent, rice prices 113 to 121 per cent, and corn to go up 148 to 153 per cent.
“Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change, because farming is so weather-dependent,” said Mark Rosegrant, co-author of the report. “Small-scale farmers in developing countries will suffer the most. However, our study finds that this scenario of lower yields, higher prices, and increased child malnutrition can be avoided.”
The report claims that investment of about $7 billion a year could avert these problems by bringing new technologies to farmers and educating them about how they can adapt. To see the full report, click here.
To see more blog entries about climate change, visit www.blogactionday.org
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