Mekong region farming must adapt to social shifts in next 30 years - report

A farmer sprays pesticide over her rice field in Nakhonsawan province, 270 km (167 miles) north of Bangkok, Nov. 22, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

01 Apr 2010
By Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK (AlertNet) - In the Mekong river region, global warming is not the first worry on farmers' minds. Over the next 30 years, mainly social shifts such as a rising population and evolving diets will drive changes in agriculture, researchers said in a wide-ranging report.

But if farmers adapt to a growing demand for food and for increasingly popular meat and vegetables without depleting limited water reserves, they will also be better prepared for future effects of climate change, including an expected rise in the sea level which would flood some highly productive land, they said.

"In the next 20 or 30 years, climate change is not likely to be a major driver of change but beyond that, climatic shifts may call for major changes in agriculture," said the 24-page report by the International Water Management Institute, entitled "Rethinking Agriculture in the Greater Mekong Subregion".

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