Environmental News Network - Climate Change ‘Likely’ to Cut Tropics Crop Diseases

Details: By SciDev.net; 10.Aug

Climate change is likely to kill back some crop diseases in tropical countries of the global South, with the disease risks instead rising in more northerly regions such as Europe and China, a study says.

Julie Swatson

Climate change is likely to kill back some crop diseases in tropical countries of the global South, with the disease risks instead rising in more northerly regions such as Europe and China, a study says.

However, this is expected to be accompanied by a shift in yields, with crop productivity stalling in tropical regions and rising in more northerly latitudes, according to the study published this week (5 August) in Nature Climate Change.

Plant pest and disease outbreaks have caused massive food shortages and famines over the years, killing millions.

“Plant pathogens already threaten agricultural production globally and we need to prepare for how these threats will change in the future,” says Thomas Chaloner, an author of the study from the University of Exeter, who now works as a data analyst at CABI, the parent organisation of SciDev.Net.

The researchers from the UK and Netherlands looked at 80 fungus-like diseases affecting crops.

Magazine menu

Climate Change ‘Likely’ to Cut Tropics Crop Diseases