China food security: wheat crops face ‘unprecedented’ risks as world heats up, study finds

Name: Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
Uploaded: 2023-06-02T12:00:09.000Z
Duration: 7 min 58 s
Description: Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?

Wheat-producing countries like China must prepare for extreme weather with more heat-tolerant crops to avoid ‘the unimaginable’, researcher says

Underestimating potential for disasters will lead to food shortages, higher prices

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China is the world’s top wheat producer, but a new study says the country needs to prepare for the effects of more extreme weather. Photo: Xinhua

Holly Chik

Published: 8:00pm, 2 Jun 2023

Heatwaves will become more frequent across the globe – a trend that a new climate analysis suggests will have serious implications for countries that produce wheat, including China and the United States.

The shifting seasonal patterns, extreme temperatures and drought that will result from a hotter world will diminish crop yields, an international team of scientists predicts, adding that the world should prepare for food insecurity induced by climate change.

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Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?

To mitigate the impact, the research team from Britain, the Netherlands, the US and Zimbabwe has advised that agricultural producers begin planting more heat-tolerant varieties of wheat, while expanding food systems to reduce the possibilities that failures in one region could devastate the world’s food supply.

For comparison, the researchers used data from 1981 to get an accurate picture of the climate changes under way. The analysis showed that heatwaves that were only likely to happen once in around 100 years back then, were now likely to happen once every six years in the US Midwest, and once every 16 years in northeastern China.

In a worst-case scenario, although unlikely, when wheat production in both China and the US failed in the same season, or at the same time as other staple crops, food prices and availability were likely to be affected globally.