Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development.

ABSTRACT: Since 1980, the number of undernourished people in eastern and southern Africa has more than doubled. Rural development stalled and rural poverty expanded during the 1990s. Population growth remains very high, and declining per-capita agricultural capacity retards progress toward Millennium Development goals. Analyses of in situ station data and satellite observations of precipitation have identified another problematic trend: main growing-season rainfall receipts have diminished by approximately 15% in food-insecure countries clustered along the western rim of the Indian Ocean. Occurring during the main growing seasons in poor countries dependent on rain-fed agriculture, these declines are societally dangerous. Will they persist or intensify? Tracing moisture deficits upstream to an anthr

SUBMITTER: Funk C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2497460 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature