Adapting to climate change: scenario analysis of grain production in China
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of future climate change and the corresponding adaptation activities on grain production and its regional distribution in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applied the Chinese Agricultural Policy Analysis model, in combination with the findings from agronomic literature with highly detailed agricultural census data, to conduct equilibrium analysis under alternative impact (seasonal drought and climate warming) scenarios and adaptation scenarios (promoting water-saving irrigation, introducing new varieties, and the integrated) associated with climate change.
Findings
Simulation results indicate that climate change-induced seasonal drought and the resulting yield reduction will incur substantial losses to China’s grain production (by ~8 percent at a national scale). The application of water saving techniques can be an effective solution to seasonal drought. Introducing new varieties will increase the combination of promoting water-saving irrigation and new variety adoption will increase combination of promoting water-saving irrigation and new variety adoption constitute an effective approach to offsetting the negative effects of climate change on grain production.
Research limitations/implications
Simulation results indicate that climate change-induced seasonal drought and the resulting sown area reduction will incur substantial losses to China’s grain production by approximately 8 percent, despite farmers’ adaptation activities of switching from water use-intensive crops to drought-tolerant crops to mitigate this negative effect. The application of water saving techniques is an effective solution to seasonal drought; it can lead to a nationwide increase in the sown area by 3.48 percent and in the grain production by 4.15 percent. Introducing new varieties will increase grain outputs and change the spatial distribution of crop production across the country. The combination of promoting water-saving irrigation and new variety adoption will increase the national grain production by 19.6 percent, and thus constitute an effective approach to offsetting the negative effects of climate change on grain production.
Originality/value
Results from this study provide practical implications formulate strategies in response to climate change. Central government should reinforce the policies such as new varieties promotion and improve the subsidy method to guide the introduction of new varieties.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was conducted under the Key Project of National Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of China (13&ZD160), China Agricultural Research System (CARS-13), the Soft science project of Ministry of Agriculture of China (L201015), National Natural Science Foundation of China (71573135), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (XNC2012001), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and China Center for Food Security Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University. Li received separate funds from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Climate Center for providing data set of Chinese Regional Climate Change Projection and the National Meteorological Information Center of China for valuable historical observations of temperature and precipitation.
Citation
Zhou, S., Zhou, W., Lin, G., Chen, J., Jiang, T. and Li, M. (2017), "Adapting to climate change: scenario analysis of grain production in China", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 643-659. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-10-2016-0173
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited