Abiotic Threats of Agriculture

Abstract

The agricultural sector is important in the economy of the world in different ways, from increasing to promotion of food production. The increase in population faces the challenge of increasing the food supply to meet future demand. This challenge is compounded by the effect of abiotic threats on agriculture. Abiotic stressors factors include drought, soil salinity, heat and cold, water stress, heavy metal stress, desertification, and floods. These are major threats affecting agriculture both qualitatively and quantitatively. These threats will probably become more significant under climate change; therefore, climate change is a serious challenge for agriculture and its efforts to meet the growing need for food worldwide. Compared to yield record, abiotic stress can minify yields by more than half on average. On the other hand, abiotic threats can combine with other threats such as biotic stress, weather extremes, and detonation of disease /pests, outbreak of disease, and insect pest detonation.