Droughts and extreme heat have cut national cereal production by 9 to 10 percent on average around the world in the last half-century, and the impact has worsened since the mid-1980s, researchers said.
Cereal production losses averaged 13.7 percent in drought years from 1985, compared with 6.7 percent during earlier droughts, a new study published in the journal Nature found.
It examined the effects of some 2,800 weather disasters on 16 cereals in 177 countries from 1964 to 2007.