Many definitions of food security exist, and these have been the subject of much debate. As early as 1992, Maxwell and Smith (1992) reviewed more than 180 items discussing concepts and definitions, and more definitions have been formulated since (DEFRA, 2006). Whereas many earlier definitions centered on food production, more recent definitions highlight access to food, in keeping with the 1996 World Food Summit definition (FAO, 1996) that food security is met when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Worldwide attention on food access was given impetus by the food “price spike” in 2007–2008, triggered by a complex set of long- and short-term factors (FAO, 2009b; von Braun and Torero, 2009). FAO concluded, “provisional estimates show that, in 2007, 75 million more people were added to the total number of undernourished relative to 2003–05” (FAO, 2008); this is arguably a low-end estimate (Headey and Fan, 2010). More than enough food is currently produced per capita to feed the global population, yet about 870 million people remained hungry in the period from 2010 to 2012 (FAO et al., 2012). The questions for this chapter are how far climate and its change affect current food production systems and food security and the extent to which they will do so in the future (Figure 7-1).

Food security and food production systems

This paper provides a comprehensive review of literature related to the assessment of climate change impacts on crop productivity using climate, water and crop yield models. The existing studies present that climate change models with higher spatial resolution can be a way forward for future climate projections. Meanwhile, stochastic projections of more than one climate model are necessary for providing insights into model uncertainties as well as to develop risk management strategies. It is projected that water availability will increase in some parts of the world, which will have its own effect on water use efficiency and water allocation. Crop production can increase if irrigated areas are expanded or irrigation is intensified, but these may increase the rate of environmental degradation. Since climate change impacts on soil water balance will lead to changes of soil evaporation and plant transpiration, consequently, the crop growth period may shorten in the future impacting on water productivity. Crop yields affected by climate change are projected to be different in various areas, in some areas crop yields will increase, and for other areas it will decrease depending on the latitude of the area and irrigation application. Existing modelling results show that an increase in precipitation will increase crop yield, and what is more, crop yield is more sensitive to the precipitation than temperature. If water availability is reduced in the future, soils of high water holding capacity will be better to reduce the impact of drought while maintaining crop yield. With the temperature increasing and precipitation fluctuations, water availability and crop production are likely to decrease in the future. If the irrigated areas are expanded, the total crop production will increase; however, food and environmental quality may degrade. 2009 National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science in China Press. All rights reserved.

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Climate change impacts on crop yield, crop water productivity and food security - A review

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Life Cycle Inventories of Agricultural Production Systems

This review addresses possible adaptation strategies in rice production to abiotic stresses that will aggravate under climate change: heat (high temperature and humidity), drought, salinity, and submergence. Each stress is discussed regarding the current state of knowledge on damage mechanism for rice plants as well as possible developments in germplasm and crop management technologies to overcome production losses. Higher temperatures can adversely affect rice yields through two principal pathways, namely (i) high maximum temperatures that cause—in combination with high humidity—spikelet sterility and adversely affect grain quality and (ii) increased nighttime temperatures that may reduce assimilate accumulation. On the other hand, some rice cultivars are grown in extremely hot environments, so that the development of rice germplasm with improved heat resistance can capture an enormous genetic pool for this trait. Likewise, drought is a common phenomenon in many rice growing environments, and agriculture research has achieved considerable progress in terms of germplasm improvement and crop management (i.e., water saving techniques) to cope with the complexity of the drought syndrome. Rice is highly sensitive to salinity. Salinity often coincides with other stresses in rice production, namely drought in inland areas or submergence in coastal areas. Submergence tolerance of rice plants has substantially been improved by introgressing the Sub1 gene into popular rice cultivars in many Asian rice growing areas. Finally, the review comprises a comparative assessment of the rice versus other crops related to climate change. The rice crop has many unique features in terms of susceptibility and adaptation to climate change impacts due to its semiaquatic phylogenetic origin. The bulk of global rice supply originates from irrigated systems which are to some extent shielded from immediate drought effects. The buffer effect of irrigation against climate change impacts, however, will depend on nature and state of the respective irrigation system. The envisaged propagation of irrigation water saving techniques will entail benefits for the resilience of rice production systems to future droughts. We conclude that there are considerable risks for rice production stemming from climate change, but that the development of necessary adaptation options can capitalize on an enormous variety of rice production systems in very different climates and on encouraging progress in recent research.

Climate change affecting rice production: the physiological and agronomic basis for possible adaptation strategies

Rice and wheat are the staple foods for almost the entire Asian population and therefore they occupy a premium position among all food commodities. The era of the Green Revolution started during the early 1970s with wheat and rice and since then the rice–wheat cropping system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains has played a significant role in the food security of the region. However, recent years have witnessed a significant slowdown in the yield growth rate of this system and the sustainability of this important cropping system is at risk due to second-generation technology problems and mounting pressure on natural resources. Traditional cultivars and conventional agronomic practices are no longer able to even maintain the gains in productivity achieved during the past few decades. Demand for food is increasing with the increasing population and purchasing power of consumers. The rice–wheat cropping system is labor-, water-, and energy-intensive and it becomes less profitable as these resources become increasingly scarce and the problem is aggravated with deterioration of soil health, the emergence of new weeds, and emerging challenges of climate change. Therefore, a paradigm shift is required for enhancing the system's productivity and sustainability. Resource-conserving technologies involving zero- or minimum-tillage in wheat, dry direct seeding in rice, improved water- and nutrient-use efficiency, innovations in residue management to avoid straw burning, and crop diversification should assist in achieving sustainable productivity and allow farmers to reduce inputs, maximize yields, increase profitability, conserve the natural resource base, and reduce risk due to both environmental and economic factors. A number of technological innovation and diversification options have been suggested to overcome the system's sustainability problems but some of them have not been fully embraced by the farmers as these are expensive, knowledge-intensive, or do not fit into the system and have resulted in some other unforeseen problems. Different concerns and possible strategies needed to sustain the rice–wheat cropping system are discussed in this review on the basis of existing evidence and future challenges.

Productivity and sustainability of the rice-wheat cropping system in the indo-gangetic plains of the Indian subcontinent: Problems, opportunities, and strategies

Impact of elevated CO2 and temperature on rice yield and methods of adaptation as evaluated by crop simulation studies

Field experiments were conducted at the village Kasiadihi, Dhenkanal district, Orissa, India during wet seasons 2001, 2002 and 2003 under non water-stressed conditions (0–25 cm standing water) to assess variability in N uptake and utilization by medium and late duration rice varieties. The N rates were 0, 40, 80 and 120 kg N/ha applied as urea in four equal splits at transplanting, active tiller initiation, panicle initiation and flowering stages. The grain yield response was up to 80 kg N/ha. The optimum grain yield attainable by the efficient medium duration varieties was 4·5 t/ha. The N efficient late duration varieties produced optimum grain yield of 5·8 t/ha. The relationship for total dry matter and grain yield production between N fertilized (40, 80 and 120 kg N/ha) and non-fertilized treatments were all significant, suggesting cultivar selection under optimum N fertilized conditions. The difference in optimum yield of the medium and late duration varieties was due to the differences in the amount of N uptake and its use efficiency by the plant for grain production. There was a curvilinear relationship between grain yield and N use efficiency for grain production. The relationship between N use efficiency for grain production and N contents of leaf, stem and grain at maturity was quadratic. The optimum plant N use efficiency of medium duration varieties was 49 kg grain/kg N uptake, achieved with leaf, stem and grain N contents of 10, 8 and 14 g/kg, respectively, at maturity. For late duration varieties, the optimum plant N use efficiency was 68 kg grain/kg N uptake and it was maintained with leaf and stem N content of 4·0 g/kg each and grain N content of 9·0 g/kg at maturity. The N content in plant organs could be the selection guide used to obtain efficient rice varieties.

Variation in yield, N uptake and N use efficiency of medium and late duration rice varieties

There is a need to increase the rice production in nonwaterstressed rice-growing areas during the wet season in Asia by the use of a suitable combination of a medium- or long-duration variety and appropriate nutrient management strategy. The crop growth simulation model ORYZA 1N was used for variety selection and N optimization in nonwaterstress conditions. Selection was made from 12 released rice varieties of 115 to 150 d duration. The model was calibrated using input data from field experiments that were conducted during the wet season (June–November) of 2001 at the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, India. In the medium-duration varieties (115–130 d), there was good agreement between simulated and observed leaf area index, biomass, and grain yield. The simulated biomass of longduration varieties (135–150 d) showed large deviation from observed biomass at flowering. In the wet season of 2000, the model accurately predicted the grain yield, biomass, and leaf area index of medium- and long-duration varieties. When the ORYZA 1N model was used to simulate the effect of planting dates on rice yield, it predicted the decline in yield with late planting. It was recommended that farmers consider planting new variety Ranjit in the favorable lowlands that do not have water stress during the wet season and should apply 80 kg N ha 21 in four equal splits at transplanting, active tillering, panicle initiation, and flowering. Technology verification trials of this practice conducted during the wet season of 2002 produced 5.51 Mg ha 21 of rice, compared with 4.36 Mg ha 21 grown with the conventional practices of area farmers.

Developing ORYZA 1N for Medium- and Long-Duration Rice: Variety Selection under Nonwaterstress Conditions

Degradation of the natural resource base has led to decline in crop yields or stagnation that caused food shortages at varying degrees among mountain families Rice, the major staple food in Asia, is suffering from lack of suitable cultivar and N fertilizer management, when grown near mountainous slopes under rain-fed agro-ecosystem An investigation through a field experiment and simulation study was conducted at United Nations University, Tokyo to select suitable rice cultivars and N fertilizer level for the rice grown near mountainous slopes in Orissa, India The field experiment was conducted during wet season (June to November) of 2001 at Kasiadihi village of Dhenkanal district, Orissa, India with eight popular rice cultivars of medium (120–130 d) and long duration (135–150 d) group and four N levels (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg·ha−1) Highest grain yield of 5,680 kg·ha−1 was obtained from cultivar Ranjit of long duration group followed by 4,730 kg·ha−1 from cultivar Mahamaya of medium duration group, across N levels CERES-Rice model was used to simulated grain yield of these two selected cultivars using historical weather data of the past 18 years (1983–2000) Long duration cultivar Ranjit registered higher yield with lower stability as compared medium duration cultivar Mahamaya over the past 18 years An optimum N fertilizer level of 80 kg·ha−1 was recommended for rice grown under rain-fed ecosystem near mountainous slopes in Orissa, India to attain optimum yield potential of cultivar

Rabindra Nath Dash

Papers

Impact of elevated CO2 and temperature on rice yield and methods of adaptation as evaluated by crop simulation studies

Variation in yield, N uptake and N use efficiency of medium and late duration rice varieties

Developing ORYZA 1N for Medium- and Long-Duration Rice: Variety Selection under Nonwaterstress Conditions

Nitrogen fertilizer optimization and cultivar selection for rice grown near mountainous slopes in Orissa, India