Thai Crops at Risk Due to Climate Change

[webfact]

File photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 

Climate change threatens Thailand's agriculture with researchers forecasting a significant decrease in crop yields within the next 70 years. This has initiated calls for governmental action to secure the country's food supply. Economics lecturer, Witsanu Attavanich of Kasetsart University, leads the research project initiated in 2017 that focuses on Thailand's revenue-generating crops.

 

From two scenarios of an increase of 2-3°C or 4.5°C by the century's end, the study demonstrates that rice production could drop by 10.18%-13.33% by 2100. Notably, non-irrigated areas, which form three-quarters of the nation's rice farms, might experience a decrease of 31.9%-42.2%.

 

Other essential crops like sugar cane, cassava, and durian are also projected to face considerable yield reduction in the next 70 years - sugar cane could drop by 25%-35%. However, the research shows that many Thai farmers are ill-prepared for the changes, limited by poor access to innovative farming technology and the elderliness of the farming community, making them the most threatened group.

 

The study also identifies a lack of digital technology infrastructure in rural areas, where primarily the country's 12.6 million farmers reside, as exacerbating the crisis. Attavanich proposes the government invest in small-scale water reserves in isolated areas and foster partnerships with local organisations to provide climate change training for farmers.

 

Withoon Liemchamroon from BioThai Foundation singles out mono-crop plantations as an issue, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and undermining food security. He proposes a return to agroecology, minimising harmful chemicals and fertilisers, and the abolition of mono-crop supporting food monopoly businesses.

 

Climate Change and Environment Department Chief, Pirun Saiyasitpanich, affirms the necessity of climate adaptation plans, identifying food security as a crucial component. Amid the rise in average temperature by 1.1°C with a foreseen 2-3°C jump by century's end, immediate and decisive actions are vital.

 

[stoner]

i wouldn't worry about that too much. long before that 70 year estimate is up thailand will be choking to death in smog. 

 

cancer will reign supreme here soon. couple that with an aging population and a declining birth rate. there will be loads of food....for those left. 

[MarkBR]

Climate change is massive threat to plant growth, flowering & seed/fruit production.

Devastating economic impact on many countries including Thailand 

[impulse]

I am cautiously optimistic that scientists over the next 70 years will come up with plant strains that will tolerate any changes in conditions and use all that extra plant food in the atmosphere to increase yields.  Even in Thailand.

 

 

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai farmers are ill-prepared for the changes, limited by poor access to innovative farming technology and the elderliness of the farming community, making them the most threatened group.

That I have to disagree with.. technology is widely available.

[Tord55]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

That I have to disagree with.. technology is widely available.

Either the climate get drier, or wetter, it will get much hotter, and what technology can then cool the rice fields?! Outdoor ACs?! Cooled water? Powered with what?!

[susanlea]

At 0.15 per decade you only get to 1 degree extra by 2100 so the scenarios they are talking about are complete nonsense. They must be begging for grants and trying to scam people.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, stoner said:

i wouldn't worry about that too much. long before that 70 year estimate is up thailand will be choking to death in smog. 

 

cancer will reign supreme here soon. couple that with an aging population and a declining birth rate. there will be loads of food....for those left. 

Agreed but, in less than 70 years Thailands agriculture sector will be a shadow of what it is now, aging farmers will have passed away, the daughters and granddaughters will be working in beach resorts propping up the tourism business, the males will be drugged up alcoholics and too lazy to work in the fields. All the produce required will come on the fast track rail straight from China.

 

[natway09]

The Gov has not helped the ag sector here at all in our neck of the woods.

The allowing of these agricultural monopolies to buy at very low prices has made many good farmers literally quit,

Eg: Garlic basically stolen from growers by these ag monopolies & a week later shops are full of expensive imported Chinese garlic

 

[charleskerins]

2 hours ago, susanlea said:

At 0.15 per decade you only get to 1 degree extra by 2100 so the scenarios they are talking about are complete nonsense. They must be begging for grants and trying to scam people.

Yes  they are working for Al Gore .   

[Rampant Rabbit]

if  only we could combine global warming storiesw with farangs breaking the law stories AN would be on to a  real  winner

[John Drake]

Glanced at the headline and read it wrong. Thought it said "Thai Cop," instead of "Thai Crops."

[MicroB]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

I am cautiously optimistic that scientists over the next 70 years will come up with plant strains that will tolerate any changes in conditions and use all that extra plant food in the atmosphere to increase yields.  Even in Thailand.

 

 

 

Generally, the same people skeptical of climate change/climate emergency/global warming, are also the same people resisting geneticslly engineered crops, and who generally push against scientists, to the extent some want scientists to be incarcerated.

 

The ability of plants to photosynthesize (take oxidized cardon in CO2, and convert it to reduced carbon in sugars) is dependant on access to phosphate, nitrogen and a few metals, to manufacture the enzymes needed to fixate CO2.

 

Major threat to rice yields in SEA is seawater contamination of fields. So work is being done on salt-resistant rice, which also makes them more resistant to drought. But genetic manipulation of strains can lead to domination of viable strains by a small number of countries. The Beijing Genomics Institute is easily the largest gene sequencing organisation in the world, and they were part of the Human Genome Project. After that was completed, they switched their focus to studying the rice genome. Likely, China holds the knowledge and knowhow in improving crop yields.

[susanlea]

4 minutes ago, MicroB said:

Generally, the same people skeptical of climate change/climate emergency/global warming, are

There is no emergency. Population increased by 2bn since 2000 and world hunger fell so people can see the climate talk as a scam which it is. Warming helps humans as cold kills far more people and crops. Anyone with an education above 6th grade can work out it is scam that has been on repeat since the early 2000s. We knew last century carbon dioxide was a greenhouse gas but all the add on scaremongering is pure scam.

[Robert Paulson]

Thais should replace rice with avocado groves 

 

rice is really not good for us I wonder at times if Thais even know this

[BangkokReady]

9 hours ago, MarkBR said:

Climate change is massive threat to plant growth, flowering & seed/fruit production.

Devastating economic impact on many countries including Thailand 

 

It's a massive threat in some areas.  In others it's a fantastic boon.

[BangkokReady]

3 hours ago, Tord55 said:

Powered with what?!

 

Solar.  

[MicroB]

7 hours ago, susanlea said:

There is no emergency. Population increased by 2bn since 2000 and world hunger fell so people can see the climate talk as a scam which it is. Warming helps humans as cold kills far more people and crops. Anyone with an education above 6th grade can work out it is scam that has been on repeat since the early 2000s. We knewBlo last century carbon dioxide was a greenhouse gas but all the add on scaremongering is pure scam.

Blocked Susan lea for not reading.

[kwilco]

7 hours ago, susanlea said:

There is no emergency. Population increased by 2bn since 2000 and world hunger fell so people can see the climate talk as a scam which it is. Warming helps humans as cold kills far more people and crops. Anyone with an education above 6th grade can work out it is scam that has been on repeat since the early 2000s. We knew last century carbon dioxide was a greenhouse gas but all the add on scaremongering is pure scam.

" Warming helps humans as cold kills far more people and crops." - how sad, so very sad don't even understand what "warming: is ......People crave explanations, control, and connection. Conspiracy theories, even if far-fetched, can provide a simple answer, a sense of power, and a community of like-minded believers.

[kwilco]

11 hours ago, susanlea said:

At 0.15 per decade you only get to 1 degree extra by 2100 so the scenarios they are talking about are complete nonsense. They must be begging for grants and trying to scam people.

apparently in the 1970s and 80s they were working for Exxon. - ExxonMobil: Oil giant predicted climate change in 1970s - scientists. One of the world's largest oil companies accurately forecast how climate change would cause global temperature to rise as long ago as the 1970s, 

[susanlea]

1 hour ago, kwilco said:

" Warming helps humans as cold kills far more people and crops." - how sad, so very sad don't even understand what "warming: is ......People crave explanations, control, and connection. Conspiracy theories, even if far-fetched, can provide a simple answer, a sense of power, and a community of like-minded believers.

Warming has boosted crops by 35% to feed the extra 2bn people since 2000.

 

How sad you don't know anything about science.

 

[susanlea]

1 hour ago, MicroB said:

Blocked Susan lea for not reading.

That will change the climate not.

[susanlea]

Thai rice output to reach 5 year high

 

https://www.world-grain.com/articles/18264-thai-rice-output-to-reach-five-year-high

[Skipalongcassidy]

19 minutes ago, susanlea said:

That will change the climate not.

BLOCKING is the newest liberal left 'SAFE PLACE'

[kwilco]

1 hour ago, susanlea said:

Warming has boosted crops by 35% to feed the extra 2bn people since 2000.

 

How sad you don't know anything about science.

 

like Brexit, moon landings and vaccines?

You don't have science, you have symptoms.

[susanlea]

1 minute ago, kwilco said:

like Brexit, moon landings and vaccines?

Like the clothes you wear and the computer you use. All made with fossil fuels. 

[MarkBR]

20 hours ago, susanlea said:

At 0.15 per decade you only get to 1 degree extra by 2100 so the scenarios they are talking about are complete nonsense. They must be begging for grants and trying to scam people.

1 degree Hhigher in average temperature results in huge loss of production due to damage to flower formation (anthesis) seed production ( successful versus seed abortion).  Best computer modelled results are 10-13% loss in Thailand's rice production  by 2100.

[placeholder]

7 hours ago, susanlea said:

Like the clothes you wear and the computer you use. All made with fossil fuels. 

False. This is like saying that if you live in a wooden house, you're living in a house made of fuel. It's only a fuel when it's burned. Those clothes and computers contained substances derived from petroleum. Petroleum and its derivatives are only fuels when they're burned.

[johng]

17 hours ago, MicroB said:

Generally, the same people skeptical of climate change/climate emergency/global warming, are also the same people resisting geneticslly engineered crops, and who generally push against scientists, to the extent some want scientists to be incarcerated.

 

Everyone should resist genetically engineered crops  until they are proven 100%   "safe and effective"   and by that I don't mean hiding the data for 75 years...its too late by then.

 

It's a direct comparison to "gain of function" research carried out in the Bio labs of Wuhan and elsewhere.

 

GM crops could provide a shortcut to the natural evolution of the plants..or something catastrophic could happen..I prefer to let nature work things out...mankind can speed it along a bit with selective breeding as has been done for ages already.

 

 

[placeholder]

9 hours ago, susanlea said:

Warming has boosted crops by 35% to feed the extra 2bn people since 2000.

 

How sad you don't know anything about science.

 

 

Feeling inventive today?  How about this from the real world:

And this is from the latest IPCC report:

Regional changes in the intensity and frequency of climate
extremes generally scale with global warming. New evidence
strengthens the conclusion from the IPCC Special Report on
Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR1.5) that even relatively small
incremental increases in global warming (+0.5°C) cause
statistically significant changes in extremes on the global scale
and for large regions (high confidence). In particular, this is the
case for temperature extremes (very likely), the intensification
of heavy precipitation (high confidence) including that
associated with tropical cyclones (medium confidence), and
the worsening of droughts in some regions (high confidence).
The occurrence of extreme events unprecedented in the observed
record will rise with increasing global warming, even at 1.5°C of 

global warming. Projected percentage changes in frequency are
higher for the rarer extreme events (high confidence). {11.1, 11.2,
11.3, 11.4, 11.6, 11.9, Cross-Chapter Box 11

https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter11.pdf

 

Rising CO2 Levels Reduce Nutritional Value of Rice
Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide are associated with reductions in protein and multiple key nutrients in rice, according to a new field study by an international team that included scientists from the University of Washington School of Public Health.

The study, published today in Science Advances, shows for the first time that rice grown at concentrations of atmospheric CO2 expected by the end of this century has lower levels of four key B vitamins. The findings also support research from other field studies showing rice grown under higher CO2 concentrations has less protein, iron and zinc.

https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/rising-co2-levels-reduce-nutritional-value-rice#:~:text=Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide,Washington School of Public Health.