Climatic Change, Natural Disasters of Agriculture and Grain Yields in China during the Past 15 Years
1997 Volume 52 Issue 5 Pages 923-934
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1997 Volume 52 Issue 5 Pages 923-934
This paper analyses the main features of the climatic change in the past 15 years compared with that of the last 50 years, and the emphasis of the discussion is directed to the relations between climatic change, natural disasters of agriculture and grain yields in China. The conclusion arises that precipitation is the major factor to affect grain yields in China, while the effects on grain yields caused by temperature variation appear obvious in high latitude areas and high elevation areas. Generally the ratio of grain yield reduction to its production is 3-5% each year, and in some individual years it can reach 10%, the total reduction percentage of grain yields caused by natural disasters of agriculture, ranges from 5% to 10%, and in some particularly heavy years it can reach above 10%.
