Record-breaking rainfall, flooding and other weather events are impacting people and our ability to successfully growing cropsincluded wheat, soybeans, cornand vegetable crops such as tomatoeson which we depend to meet human food security and nutritional needs.
In the US MidwestFor example, floods in 2019 resulted in economic impacts of more than USD 6-8 billion. In 2023, weather-related disasters resulted in more than $21 billion in crop losses. On the African continent, a recent study found that record-breaking rainfall and flooding contributed to food insecurity.
As you might expect, plants including corn, soybeans, and tomatoes are just as sensitive to flooding as people. I have seen firsthand the damaging effects flooding has on crops such as corn And tomato as a child growing up on a farm in Kenya and now as a university lecturer and researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he worked on a field study of flooding funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
During floods, the growth and development of plants are affected by the lack of oxygen. Oxygen is an essential and indispensable element that controls all important metabolic and physiological processes of plant life below and above the ground, including respiration and photosynthesis.
Ultimately, depending on multiple factors, including crop genetics, soil and agricultural management practices, temperatures and crop stage. When flooding occurs, plant development and growth are affected, with implications for crop yield and food supply and security.
There is an urgent need to understand the impact of flooding on agriculturally relevant crops. Importantly, actionable plans and strategies need to be implemented to strengthen crop resilience to record-breaking events. So what can be done?
To implement viable strategies to combat flooding and its damaging effects on plants, federal funding agencies, including the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Scientific Foundationmust invest in flood research.
First, we need to understand the short- and long-term effects of flooding on all crops. How do different crop varieties grown today in different environments respond to flooding? Such research would be of great importance in selecting flood resistant varieties and unpacking the characteristics and properties, including crop geneticsthat support resilience to flooding.
Such intelligence would then be used to climate-proof crop varieties that can withstand flooding and thrive under other climate-related stressors, now and in the future.
Secondly, we need to understand the impact that floods have on soil healthsoil biology and subsurface microorganisms that form the basis for plants and soil health. Healthy soil is a dynamic matrix that houses microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, which perform various functions, including regulating nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, promoting plant growth and suppressing disease-causing pathogens.
Rising research has revealed that during flooding, in response to declining oxygen levels, soil undergoes drastic changes in its physical, chemical and biological properties, including soil pH and nutrient concentration.
Furthermore, research evidence reveals the accumulation of toxic compounds such as manganese and hydrogen sulfide that can harm soil microbial communities. How long these flood-induced and associated soil changes last and their impact on beneficial soil microbial communities in different environments remains largely unknown.
At the same time, we need to understand the role that crop and soil management practices play in limiting the impacts of flooding on plants.
Ultimately, flood research should be aimed at devising solutions to flooding. What targeted solutions can be implemented after floods to steer soils, soil microbiomes and plants towards recovery? It requires a transdisciplinary approach, collaborative research and the participation of all stakeholders: farmers, researchers, funding agencies, the private sector, government and humanitarian organizations.
It is certainly the case that there are short-term relief actions that traditionally take place when floods occur, including actions taken by Floridaare necessary. However, to face the reality of more flooding in the future, we need more research.
Future climate projections show that record-breaking floods will become more common. We need to build a comprehensive understanding of flooding. Investing in research and involving all stakeholders is the way forward.
Esther Ngumbi, PhD is an associate professor, Department of Entomology, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
