Photo
Subscribe to Farm Radio Weekly

Go to Supporters and Donors Site

1404 Scott Street,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4M8

Tel: 613-761-3650
Fax: 613-798-0990
Toll-Free: 1-888-773-7717
Email: info@farmradio.org
Web Site: http://farmradio.org/

Radio Scripts

Radio Scripts

Package 64, Script 1
July 2002

How Farmers can Adapt to a Changing Climate

Notes to broadcaster

Learning about climate change is important to farmers, because of its effects on agriculture. Farmers can expect increased temperatures, and more frequent storms, floods and droughts. The weather will be more variable and harder to predict. Farmers need to understand climate change and weather, to plan for changing and variable yields, water shortages, and an increase in pests and diseases.

This article provides some background information on climate change to help you prepare radio programs on this topic. You could tell farmers in your region about some of the ways that climate change affects farmers, at home and in other parts of the world. Then you could discuss strategies that local farmers might use to successfully adapt to climate change. Once you have determined which strategies are most useful to farmers in your audience, you can prepare radio programs that will specifically address their needs and questions. To help you prepare, we have noted a number of past DCFRN scripts that you might find helpful. [For information about getting past scripts, see the newsletter.]

How global warming affects the weather

Have you heard of global warming? The earth is getting warmer because human actions - such as burning coal, oil and gas for energy - are increasing the levels of 'greenhouse gases' in the earth's atmosphere. These gases, which include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, stop the sun's heat from reflecting back into space. Heat gets trapped in the earth's atmosphere, and this increases the temperature on the surface of the earth. Because of the increase in greenhouse gases, world temperatures will rise between 1.5 and 4 degrees over the next century. This may not sound like much, but it will have a large impact on farmers.

As the temperature rises, the weather will be affected in different ways all over the planet. Drought is likely to get worse in some areas, especially in the African grasslands, where rainfall is expected to decrease and become more unpredictable from year to year. The rising temperature will also cause more moisture to evaporate more quickly from the surface of the earth. As the air and soil become drier, it may be more difficult to grow crops such as maize.

In other areas, especially coastal regions, higher temperatures will be accompanied by higher rainfall. Coastal lands and small islands will be at risk from rising sea levels and more intense storms. For example, if the sea level rises by one metre, 17% of the land in Bangladesh will disappear. Low-lying parts of China, Southeast Asia, and west and central Africa would also be submerged or damaged.

How will global warming affect local agriculture?

We've already seen how an important crop like maize might be more difficult to grow, as a result of global warming. Other crops will be affected, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Crop decreases are likely because:

1) Many varieties of rice may not set grain if temperatures become hotter, and

2) There will be less water for crops if rainfall decreases and evaporation increases

Food production will also be affected by:

The following are examples of some potential impacts of global warming in different parts of the world.

In Africa:

In the Middle East and drier parts of Asia:

In Latin America:

In China and cooler parts of northern Asia:

In tropical Asia:

What can farmers do?

Farmers in your audience probably already use effective methods to limit damage from weather. You can encourage them to do more damage control, and to adapt and improve their methods. For example, both soil and water degradation are likely to get worse with global warming. So methods to conserve soil and water will be particularly useful.

When you are preparing your radio program, talk to local experts (research stations, national weather services, your country FAO office) to find out how climate change is likely to affect your region. Then you can outline strategies that may be useful for the farmers who listen to your program. Remember to explain these strategies to your listeners. You might want to refer back to past DCFRN scripts. We have noted some scripts that would be helpful. [If you don't have these scripts, see our newsletter for further instructions.]

1. If your area is vulnerable to storms, hurricanes, typhoons and floods:

Protecting coastal regions with mangrove plantations

Typhoons strike the coast of Vietnam 8 to 10 times per year. They often break sea dykes and destroy aquaculture farms. To provide a barrier in front of the dykes, and protect coastal land, the Vietnam Red Cross established 2000 hectares of mangrove trees. The mangrove plantations are also used to harvest and market valuable sea products such as shrimp, crabs, and cultured seaweed. Shortly after completion, the mangrove plantation was hit by the worst typhoon in a decade. But there was no significant damage to the dyke and aquaculture pond systems.

2. If your area is at risk from drought, desertification, and soil and water degradation:

In drier areas, lower rainfall and higher evaporation are predicted to further degrade soil and water resources, and hasten the process of desertification. So farmers will need to practise soil and water conservation. They can:

Improving techniques for long term storage

In Sudan, the rains are failing more and more frequently. To store crops for longer periods of time, farmers in Sudan have modified the matmura, their traditional sorghum storage pit. Traditionally, farmers poured sorghum into the matmura pits until a dome shape was formed. Then they would add a layer of chaff on top. The traditional pits were one and a half metres deep, but now farmers make shallower pits, about 50 cm deep. This keeps the grain drier for two reasons. First, it reduces leakage through cracks. Second, less moisture gets into the grain. With less moisture, there are fewer insects, which improves the quality of the grain. Farmers have also increased the amount of chaff that is placed on top of the sorghum. Now the chaff is 50 centimetres deep and extends for about one metre around the filled pits. These new innovations on their traditional practice have increased the safe storage period.

3. If you live in a cooler area:

In cooler areas, the growing season may be a month longer, or more. Here are some methods to discuss on your program:

4. If rainfall in your area will be more uncertain:

Effective and long-lasting crop storage is going to be more important than ever. Also, you could advise farmers to:

An example of water catchment

Several kinds of planting pits can be used for water catchment. One kind of planting pit is the zai hole. Zai holes are a traditional method of catching and holding runoff water in sub-Saharan Africa. They are used in soil that is so badly degraded that water cannot penetrate it.

During the dry season, a hole that measures 20 x 20 centimetres is dug to a depth of ten centimetres. The hole is filled with crop residues or manure. These materials attract termites, which make holes in the pit. The termite holes increase the amount of water that can penetrate the soil when the rains come. Millet and other crops are planted in the zai holes. In Burkina Faso, farmers using this method have improved their yields several times over. The zai holes also protect seedlings from strong winds. Even when rainfall is much lower than normal, zai holes have worked well in most cases.

5. In most regions of the world, farmers will benefit from planting different crops and raising different kinds of livestock, or changing plant varieties and livestock breeds to address the new farming conditions they will encounter.

On your program, you could discuss how to select new or alternative crops, or crop varieties:

Remember:

As always, when deciding on topics for discussion on your radio program, learn about local traditional techniques that may be useful in addressing some of these climate change issues. Also, as much as possible, learn from, talk to, and discuss the ideas and practices of farmers in the community and in your listening audience.

- END -

Acknowledgements

Information Sources