Posted on August, 5, 2021 at 07:47 am
Acute food insecurity is on the rise. Nearly 750 million people globally were food-insecure in 2019, and at least 121 million people are estimated to have been pushed into similar levels of risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is expected to increase due to the impacts of climate change on global food systems and crop production: Smallholder farmers are increasingly facing cumulative impacts of droughts, floods, heatwaves and wildfires, as well as crop pests and diseases. Without adaptation, climate change could depress crop yields globally by 5-30% by 2050, and if dwindling supplies lead to price hikes, at least 50 million more people could face food insecurity.
Digital Climate-informed Advisory Services (DCAS) — such as mobile apps and radio — could play a key role in helping smallholder farmers adapt to and mitigate some of these impacts, enabling them to make informed decisions and adapt traditional practices to minimize losses.
Source:Columbia Climate School