Climate change impacts on maize production in the warm heart of Africa
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Msowoya, K
Madani, K
Davtalab, R
Mirchi, A
Lund, JR
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Agriculture is the mainstay of economy in Malawi - the warm heart of
Africa. It employs 85 % of the labour force, and produces one third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 90 % of foreign exchange earnings. Maize farming covers over 92 % of Malawi’s agricultural land and contributes over 54 % of national caloric intake. With a subtropical climate and ~99 % rainfed agriculture, Malawi relies
heavily on precipitation for its agricultural production. Given the significance of rainfed maize for the nation’s labour force and GDP, we have investigated climate
change effects on this staple crop. We show that rainfed maize production in the Lilongwe District, the largest maize growing district in Malawi, may decrease up to 14 % by mid-century due to climate change, rising to as much as 33 % loss by the century’s end. These declines can substantially harm Malawi’s food production and socioeconomic status. Supplemental irrigation, crop diversification and natural conservation methods are promising adaptation strategies to improve Malawi’s food security and socioeconomic stability.
Africa. It employs 85 % of the labour force, and produces one third of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 90 % of foreign exchange earnings. Maize farming covers over 92 % of Malawi’s agricultural land and contributes over 54 % of national caloric intake. With a subtropical climate and ~99 % rainfed agriculture, Malawi relies
heavily on precipitation for its agricultural production. Given the significance of rainfed maize for the nation’s labour force and GDP, we have investigated climate
change effects on this staple crop. We show that rainfed maize production in the Lilongwe District, the largest maize growing district in Malawi, may decrease up to 14 % by mid-century due to climate change, rising to as much as 33 % loss by the century’s end. These declines can substantially harm Malawi’s food production and socioeconomic status. Supplemental irrigation, crop diversification and natural conservation methods are promising adaptation strategies to improve Malawi’s food security and socioeconomic stability.
Date Issued
2016-09-06
Date Acceptance
2016-08-26
Citation
Water Resources Management, 2016, 30 (14), pp.5299-5312
ISSN
1573-1650
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Start Page
5299
End Page
5312
Journal / Book Title
Water Resources Management
Volume
30
Issue
14
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Subjects
Environmental Engineering
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published