TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL SCIENCE

RAMPUR CAMPUS
Date: 2078-01-08

Assignment on

EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WHEAT PRODUCTION

IN NEPAL.

Nepal lies near the northern limit of tropics in the lap of

Himalayas and hence it is more vulnerable to climate change.
It has wide range of climatic variation from tropic heat of terai
to cold winter of mountain section which reflect variation in
temperature and precipitation. As agriculture is an important
sector in Nepalese economy, due to complex topography and
climatic variation, agricultural system varies as per location.
The climate and temperature of earth are being influenced by
different human activities. This adds enormous amount of
greenhouse gases to atmospheric gases, increasing
greenhouse effect and global warming.

Wheat is one of the prioritized cereal crop like rice and

maize in Nepal. Wheat is cultivated in 20% of total cultivated
area. Different varieties of crop are being affected by climatic
change, among which Wheat is one of them.

The delayed monsoon has already been affecting wheat

planting and also its yield subsequently. In most of the
discussion about impact of climate change on wheat
production focuses on temperature regime of area, which
lowers the ripening period. But upland farmers grow wheat
crop in rainfed condition, product of which Is guided by both
temperature as well as amount of water available. The water
requirement of unirrigated wheat is met by rainfall which
means any change in rainfall time or duration affects
unirrigated wheat yield. Climate change therefore has
significant impact on wheat production in countries like Nepal
where most of the farming system depends on monsoon and
corresponding climate. Talking about the impact of climate
change in global wheat production, a degree rise temperature
reduces production of wheat by 6%. Yield of wheat are
projected to decline in drier eastern and northern areas and
remain unchanged or increase in wetter western and southern
areas.

As being southern part of Asia, the volume of wheat

production, cultivation area and productivity are increasing
substantially in Nepal during last decade. But surprisingly,
about 60% variation in wheat productivity was due to weather
variation in Nepal. The climate being one of the major input in
wheat cultivation, weather variability and farm level wheat
production, it unpredictably might have some meaningful
consequences. The temperature and net revenue from wheat
are positively associated but at decreasing rate. It signifies that
as temperature increase the yield of wheat in Nepal increases
as well. Since wheat is cultivated in cold or winter season in
Nepal, temperature rise might have promoted wheat yield.
But if the temperature increases beyond certain level it
hampers the yield. If average temperature goes above 210C,
the temperature rise will start damaging wheat yield. If
temperature and precipitation both increases, the joint
climatic impact in wheat yield would be significantly negative
in Nepal.

Thus, it can be said that the climate change initially promotes

wheat production in Nepal but after certain threshold level it
might not.

Prepared by:
Roll no 36 to 40
Samikshya Basnet
Sandhya Yadav
Sangita Tharu
Santosh Dash
Sarala Thapa