Climate change alters impacts of extreme climate events on a tropical perennial tree crop.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic climate change causes more frequent and intense fluctuations in the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Understanding the effects of ENSO on agricultural systems is crucial for predicting and ameliorating impacts on lives and livelihoods, particularly in perennial tree crops, which may show both instantaneous and delayed responses. Using cocoa production in Ghana as a model system, we analyse the impact of ENSO on annual production and climate over the last 70 years. We report that in recent decades, El Niño years experience reductions in cocoa production followed by several years of increased production, and that this pattern has significantly shifted compared with prior to the 1980s. ENSO phase appears to affect the climate in Ghana, and over the same time period, we see c

SUBMITTER: Creedy TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9668817 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature