Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) jointly released a report titled “Extreme Heat and Agriculture” yesterday. The report said that rising temperatures and extreme heat are reducing food production and incomes in agrifood systems that 1.23 billion people rely on. It also warned that agricultural yield losses can triple when heat combines with other hazards such as drought and are projected to get much worse as the world warms. 

 

The report further said that extreme heat is emerging as one of the most urgent and least understood threats to agriculture and food security. It said that rising temperatures, prolonged heatwaves, and shifting climate patterns are already disrupting crop yields, livestock health, water availability, and rural livelihoods – with impacts falling disproportionately on the most vulnerable.