Climate changes likely to cut South Africa’s maize production
Posted by africanpress on July 7, 2008
Climate change could cut South Africa’s maize crop by 20 percent within 15 to 20 years as the west of the country dries out while the east is afflicted with increasingly severe storms, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the South African environmental affairs minister, told reporters on Sunday in Japan where the Group of Eight rich nations’ leaders are gathering for a summit.
Van Schalkwyk called on developed countries to slash emissions by 80 to 95 percent by 2050 compared with 1990, to achieve meaningful progress in fighting climate change.
Developing countries like South Africa, which holds most of the continent’s coal reserves and is expanding output, will need technology transfers to slow their growth in emissions, he said.
Otherwise, increasing dryness in the west of South Africa would be matched by cyclones and heavy rain in the east, fanning the spread of malaria and destroying infrastructure that wasn’t built to withstand strong winds and heavy rains.
As its western regions dry out, South Africa would have to turn to more drought-resistant strains of maize, or corn, giving a greater role to genetically modified strains, he said. GMO corn is already legal in South Africa.
South Africa consumes about 8 million tonnes a year of corn. It produced 7,125 million tonnes in the 2007 harvest, but this year’s harvest topped 11 million tonnes following better rains.
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API(APA
