There is no doubt that the phenomenon of climate change has become one of the global issues because of its serious effects that threaten the future of humans on Earth. A study released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) indicated a rise in global average temperatures by about four degrees Celsius by 2060, and this rapid rise is likely to threaten global stability by disrupting food and water supplies in many parts of the world, especially in Africa.
Climate change is one of the most important threats to sustainable development for poor countries more than for rich countries, despite the fact that it does not contribute a large percentage of the total emissions of greenhouse gases. Climate change affects human life and its ability to continue, as climate change includes the four dimensions of food security: food availability, accessibility, use capacity, and stability. On the quantitative scale of food availability, the increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere is reflected in the productivity of many crops, in addition to the increase in the risk of plant diseases and insect pests, which results in a significant decline in agricultural productivity. Severe drought sweeping some regions of the world and heavy rains causing floods and destructive floods in others are features of the climate changes taking place at the moment.
The main cause of these climate changes is what is known as global warming , which is the result of increasing gas and heat emissions from the earth as a result of increasing industrial activity, increasing industrial uses, coal combustion and the use of petroleum. Human activities produce as much as 78% of carbon dioxide.
Egypt is not far from this, although Egypt is not a major contributor to the global greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change in the world, as it contributes only 0.61% of the total global emissions. Such climate changes will affect the available natural resources, especially on the two main resources in which Egypt is characterized by relative scarcity, namely agricultural land and water, which leads to direct and long-term effects on the agricultural sector , which contributes to 11% of GDP and constitutes 20% of total exports and external revenues.
The agriculture sector is highly sensitive to climate change due to its dependence on natural resources, i.e. water and land (under a certain climate and certain types of plants). Therefore, any change in climate will affect the efficiency of the sector and food security, which will also affect the economic and sustainable development of the country. In addition, the workforce in the agriculture sector represents 23.3%, and the agriculture sector is one of the few sectors in its contribution to global warming.
The plant diseases and pest control sector is one of the most affected sectors in the field of agriculture by climate change. This can be illustrated in the following examples:
- Climate plays a big role in the spread of plant disease as the incubation period of the pathogen decreases with global warming. This means that more generations of this pathogen can develop during one growing season and therefore the risk of epidemics increases. This occurs at the level of leaf diseases such as echoes in garlic, villous white, purple patch and leaf blight in onions and garlic.
- Climatic changes will lead to the emergence of risks for pests that were previously not of economic value and are not included in control programs as a result of displacement in the growing seasons resulting from high temperature, such as garlic rust and leaf blight diseases in onions and garlic, which increases the losses of the agricultural product and the cost of production for the need to combat them.
- For fungi transmitted through the soil, high temperatures with water stress resulting from the lack of water rations negatively affect the resistance of varieties, which leads to an increase in infection. The most important of these diseases is the disease of pink root mold in onions and garlic.
- The fungus that causes infection in the field and spreads in the warehouse in general, climate change is expected to increase its presence and spread, such as the disease of black mold in onions .
The above illustrates the importance of focusing on finding solutions that enable us to confront the line of biological change in the ecosystem, which would directly affect the agricultural production process and affect the food level. This requires a focus in the strategy to promote scientific research, technology transfer, knowledge management and awareness to combat climate change and combat diseases and their spread. Hence, the need to prepare agricultural crops to adapt to potential climate changes by:
- The development of new varieties that withstand high temperature, salinity and drought, which will be prevalent under the conditions of climate change.
- Developing new varieties with a short growing season to reduce water needs and thus not consuming water and increasing productivity.
- Working to increase the development of new disease-resistant varieties, which allows to reduce the cost of production by reducing the losses resulting from the pathological factor, which are estimated at 25% in medium cases and exceed 80% in epidemiological cases, in addition to saving the cost resulting from control measures.
- Expanding biological control to reduce the use of pesticides that have a direct impact on global warming.
- The focus of research is to find a biological factor that can adapt to climate changes and the expected rise in temperatures and use it in biological control to increase the efficiency of control.
- Reducing theuse of fertilizers and good recycling of agricultural waste , as this can contribute positively to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
- Developing integrated control programs to confront biological changes resulting from climate changes and reduce the spread of the pathogen.
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