China is the biggest producer of potatoes due to their superior yield in comparison to other crops of the same type. However, they are especially vulnerable to extreme heat and the climate change that is triggered by emissions of fossil fuels has pushed temperatures to alarming highs, while also increasing the effects of flooding and drought.
Li who is a researcher in CIP, the International Potato Center (CIP) located in Beijing Li is the leader of an investigation of three years into the effect of temperature increases on the potato. The team is focused on the two varieties that are most popular in China. “I beg to differ on what I think will take place in the near future,” Li said. “Farmers will be able to harvest fewer potatoes, and this will impact the security of food.”
Li’s team has grown their crop over a period of three months within the walk-in chamber, which was set to three degrees Celsius over the average temperatures in the northern part of Hebei as well as Inner Mongolia, the higher altitude regions that are where the majority of potatoes are produced in China. The study, which was which was published in Climate Smart Agriculture this month discovered that the hotter temperatures helped to accelerate the growth of tubers for 10 days. It also reduced the yield of potatoes by nearly half.
Based on current climate policy we are facing up to 3.1 C of warming above the preindustrial level by 2100, as per an United Nations report released in October. The report states that in Inner Mongolia, dozens of workers cramming white bags hurry to collect potatoes that have been dug into the earth before the next storm. “The greatest challenge facing potatoes this year is torrential rains,” said manager Wang Shiyi. “It is causing various diseases… as well as significantly affected the progress of harvesting.” The seed potato manufacturer Yakeshi Senfeng Potato Industry Company has invested in agroponic system where the plants grow on the ground under monitored conditions.
There is a growing demand from farmers for potato varieties with higher yields and more resistant to diseases especially late blight which was the cause of the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. It thrives under humid and warm environments. “Some fresh and robust (late blight) varieties have started to emerge, and resist traditional techniques for prevention and control,” said general manager Li Xuemin when explaining the business’s plan for Inner Mongolia.
CIP’s research CIP located in Lima it is a an effort in collaboration in conjunction with the Chinese government in order to assist farmers adjust to warmer more humid and wetter weather. Inside the greenhouse of Li’s lab, scientists swab pollens on white potato blossoms in order to produce varieties that can withstand heat. Li states that Chinese farmers need to modify their farming practices over the next 10 years, such as starting their planting in the spring, instead of the summer’s beginning, or shifting to higher elevations so that they can escape the scorching heat.
“Farmers need to begin planning for the effects of climate change,” Li said. “If we can’t come up with an answer, they’ll earn less from the reduced yields and prices of potatoes could rise.”
Souce: Reuters