Climate change ministry to develop new breeds of livestock and varieties of crops, that are less vulnerable to adverse impacts of the climate change after taking input from relevant experts from public and private sectors

The agriculture sector is facing five major risks caused by climate change counting as sea level, glacial retreats, floods, higher average temperature and frequency of droughts according to a policy framework.

“Due to unpredictable changes in the weather pattern in Sindh crops like banana, tomato and seasonal vegetable and fruit crops are facing threats. Cotton was once an important crop for Faisalabad, but now not grown there anymore. Same situation in other areas where the climate change is badly affecting the seasonal crops,” it said.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported climate change a greater risk to food security and predicted a decline in production of wheat by 1.5-2.5 % and of rice by 2-4% by 2020.

Occurrence and strength of extreme events i.e. flood, drought, cyclone that would harm the agriculture production and also affect the water balance in future by graver global warming.

An official said the input from the experts would help to develop a mechanism to protect the existing crops from the climate change and introduce new breeds with resistance against the adverse weather conditions.