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Global Climate Change and Agricultural Productivity in Southern Africa: Thought for Food and Food for Thought

  • Conference paper
Climate Change and World Food Security

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 37))

Abstract

The population of southern Africa (defined in the context of this paper as the Republic of South Africa, plus the Kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland) is projected to increase from its present 40 million to between 70 and 90 million by the year 2035. To meet the food demands of this growing population, crop production will have to expand at three per cent per annum (Arbuthnot, 1992). This will not be an easy task, however, as the southern African subcontinent is largely semi-arid and sub-humid, has a diversity of soils, physiography, agricultural crops grown, and management levels at which they are grown. Above all these factors, however, is the wide range of climates, characterised by a marked intra-seasonal and inter-annual variability of rainfall. In terms of resource management, this is a high-risk environment which, in the agricultural industry, be it in the commercial or subsistence sector, implies in most areas uncertain production, frequent crop failures and consequently a drain on state finances through subsidies and drought relief.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Natal, 3201, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

    Roland E. Schulze, Gregory A. Kiker & Richard P. Kunz

Authors
  1. Roland E. Schulze
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  2. Gregory A. Kiker
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  3. Richard P. Kunz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford, 1a Mansfield Road, OX1 3TB, Oxford, UK

    Thomas E. Downing

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Schulze, R.E., Kiker, G.A., Kunz, R.P. (1996). Global Climate Change and Agricultural Productivity in Southern Africa: Thought for Food and Food for Thought. In: Downing, T.E. (eds) Climate Change and World Food Security. NATO ASI Series, vol 37. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61086-8_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61086-8_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64687-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-61086-8

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