New study warns of major factor driving up prices for everyday groceries: 'More immediate impact'

A recent study claims food inflation is being driven by climate instability, according to the Hindu BusinessLine.

What's happening?

The Reserve Bank of India has published new data that claims food prices account for 45.86% of retail inflation in the country. The Bank encouraged farmers to adopt weather-resistant strains of crops to avoid drops in yield and increased price volatility. 

"Empirical results suggest that weather anomalies affect vegetable prices, with temperature anomalies having a more immediate impact," the study stated. "The impact of temperature anomalies has increased in recent periods, highlighting the need for faster adoption of temperature-resistant crop varieties to support price stability." 

Heat isn't the only climate threat to India's food supply. The country has suffered the earliest monsoon season in 16 years, resulting in a wide range of agricultural fallout. Onion, tomato, rice, lemons, oranges, and mangoes are just some of the crops that have been recently impacted by heavy rain. 

Why is crop resilience important?

At a bare minimum, diminishing crop yields due to destructive weather patterns result in a rise in grocery prices. Those price rises can lead to food insecurity and migration in turn. 

In addition to wild weather swings, increasing temperatures lead to ocean acidification and rising sea levels caused by melting ice caps, which also pose threats to food supplies. 

What's being done about crop resilience?

Indian researchers suggested farmers adopt, as an example, a new strain of tomato that can handle a 1 to 2 degree rise in temperatures, though it's not available yet. 

Other heat-resistant strains for different crops may serve as useful alternatives. India is also deploying large-scale permaculture in order to improve resilience. 

"The major driver of food price volatility is vegetable prices, which are perishable. … Most of the production comes from small and marginal farmers with very little or no safeguard against such [weather] disturbances," the study observed.

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