Agriculture experts at a seminar Saturday underlined the need for establishing a common food bank for the SAARC member countries to face adverse impact of climate change on food production, reports agency.

They also suggested carrying out more researches to invent more saline, drought and flood tolerant crop varieties and improving early disaster warning system to adapt with climate change.

SAARC Agriculture Centre organized the seminar titled ‘Climate Change and its impact on Agricultural Production System in SAARC region’ at Bangladesh Agriculture Research Centre (BARC) here.

Agriculture Secretary M Abdul Aziz spoke as the chief guest while Executive Chairman of BARC Dr M Abdur Razzaque chaired the seminar. Director of SAARC Agriculture Centre Dr Wais Kabir gave the welcome speech and Executive Director of Centre for Global Change Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed presented the keynote paper.

Abdul Aziz said, work of creating SAARC food bank has already been started as per the decision of the last SAARC summit. He underlined the need for establishing an adaptation centre and creating an adaptation fund for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.

“Climate change is not a problem of only Bangladesh, it’s a global problem and the south Asia will face its worst adverse effects” he said, adding “only Bangladesh could not adapt with the climate change without regional cooperation as the flood depends on flows of trans boundary rivers.”

He said, share of weather information among the SAARC member countries need to be ensured as well as a common centre of early warning system for the agriculture sector need to be set up. In his keynote paper, Dr Ahsan said, due to climate change there will be a general rise in temperature of 1.3 degree by 2030s and 2.6 degree by 2070s.

Monsoon rainfall would increase by 10 to 25 percent by three to seven decades and winter and dry season rainfall will be diminish, he added. Dr Ahsan said, due the climate change natural calamities like cyclone intensity, high flood, salinity increase and agriculture drought would be occurred.

Besides, the overall food production would be decreased in the south Asia including 3 to 4 percent in India, he said. Dr Ahsan suggested increased investment in research work for inventing more varieties of crop, which could adapt with the new trend of climate.

In Bangladesh, two varieties of saline tolerant rice, BR 40 and 41 are being harvested in test basis, he said adding, this two varieties could tolerant up to 11 to 12 ppt saline, now we should look forward to invent variety with 16 ppt tolerance capacity.

He also suggested inventing of minimum 20 days flood resistant and drought resistant varieties as well as improving the early weather warning system as farmers could cultivate right crop in right time. He said, if require, we have to change our food habit to adapt with the climate change.

A good number of agriculture expert from home and other member countries of SAARC attended the seminar.