Agriculture & Food Security

The relation between climate and wheat production in Nepal was studied for the period 1970/71-2007/08. Due to the topographical differences within short north-south span of the country, Nepal has wide variety of climatic condition. About 70 to 90% of the rainfall occurs during the summer monsoon months (June to September) in Nepal and the rest of the months are almost dry. Wheat is cultivated during the dry winter period and therefore, the supplementary irrigation plays a vital role in its cultivation. Varieties of wheat have been developed to suit the local climatic conditions.

Exponential growth of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere is causing climate change. It affects agriculture, forestry, human health, biodiversity, snow coverand aquatic to mountain ecosystems. Changes in climatic factors like temperature, solar radiation and precipitation have potential to influence crop production. Despite many efforts possible on combating impacts of climate change, there are still difficulties in Nepalese agriculture. With an average of 0.06oC/year, a rise in temperature from 1975 to 2006 by 1.8oC has been recorded in the country.