Protein, iron, zinc in crops to reduce due to climate change: study

 

Over the next 30 years, climate change and increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels could significantly reduce the availability of critical nutrients such as protein, iron, and zinc in crops, a new study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has said.  

 

Rice, maize, barley, potatoes, soybeans, and several vegetables are all projected to suffer nutrient losses of about three per cent on an average due to elevated CO2 concentration by 2050, according to the study titled: “A modeling approach combining elevated atmospheric CO2 effects on protein, iron and zinc availability with projected climate change impacts on global diets”.

 

Protein, iron, and zinc availability in wheat is projected to be reduced by up to 12% by 2050 in all wheat-growing regions.

 

The growth in the global per capita nutrient availability of protein, iron, and zinc is expected to be reduced by 19.5%, 14.4%, and 14.6%, respectively.

 

In South Asia, iron and zinc availability is projected to be fall below recommended levels, says the study.

One of the biggest challenges in reducing hunger and under-nutrition across the world is to produce food that provides not only enough calories but also makes it nutrient-rich.

 

In India, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, in the past five years, has developed more than 1000 new high-yield varieties, almost 50 per cent of which have climate resistance properties and 35 are bio-fortified varieties to address nutrition-security. 

 

However, according to the study, “improvements in technology and markets are projected to increase nutrient availability over current levels by 2050, but these gains are substantially diminished by the negative impacts of rising concentrations of carbon dioxide”

 

Co-author of the study, Timothy Sulser says: “Global population growth over the next 30 years will require increasing the production of foods that provide sufficient nutrients. Climate change could slow progress on improvements in global nutrition by simply making key nutrients less available.” 

 

Authors say the study represents “the most comprehensive synthesis of the impacts of elevated CO2 and climate change on the availability of nutrients in the global food supply to date".

 

While higher levels of CO2 can boost photosynthesis and growth in some plants, existing research has also said they reduce the concentration of key micronutrients in crops.

 

Nutrient reductions are projected to be particularly severe in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South of the Sahara, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union—regions largely comprised of low and middle income countries where levels of under-nutrition are generally higher and diets are more vulnerable to direct impacts of changes in temperature and precipitation triggered by climate change, the study claims.