Introduction
Many people are aware of the current and future negative effects of global warming. This problem threatens the entire planet, and each country and side of the planet faces various issues. For example, it is expected researchers that global warming will cause severe reductions in the crop in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. Since this country’s economy and food security are dominated by agriculture, this is a rather challenging situation, and scientists’ predictions are not very encouraging.
Global Warming and Ethiopia
As mentioned above, agriculture is particularly important for Africa and Ethiopia. Since agriculture in this country is “mainly rain-fed and subsistence,” it is very sensitive to variations in weather. As noticed by Rettie et al., “under the changing climate, wheat productivity will be a major challenge with a 36 to 40% reduction in grain yield by 2050″ (1). Thus, if global warming does not become slower, agricultural production in Ethiopia will be undermined, and there will be an extreme shortage of food.
The researchers are focused on studying the effects of global warming on wheat and maize yields. According to their findings, maize is not significantly responsive and sensitive to changes in temperature: by 2050, it is expected to decrease by only 2% (Rettie et al. 15). Nevertheless, other cultivars are also expected to reduce significantly, and it will be impossible for African countries to rely primarily on maize yields. For instance, in their study, Sultan et al. decided to assess the influence of climate change on millet and sorghum from 2000 to 2009 (1). It turned out that global warming already caused “average yield reductions of 10–20% for millet and 5–15% for sorghum” during that decade (Sultan et al. 1). Therefore, the upcoming negative effects will probably be even more devastating and discouraging.
Conclusion
To draw a conclusion, one may say that the current situation is very severe. Global warming has numerous adverse impacts on the planet, and a shortage of crop production, especially in developing countries in Africa, will have very negative consequences. Overall, if the pace of climate change remains the same, there will be extreme reductions in wheat, maize, millet, and sorghum yields in Ethiopia and across other countries in Africa.
Works Cited
Rettie, Fasil Mequanint, et al. “Climate Change Impact on Wheat and Maize Growth in Ethiopia: A Multi-Model Uncertainty Analysis.” PLOS ONE, vol. 17, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1-26.
Sultan, Benjamin, et al. “Evidence of Crop Production Losses in West Africa Due to Historical Global Warming in Two Crop Models.” Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 12834, 2019, pp. 1-15.