Young people from various countries across the world have made a fresh demand for concerted efforts from governments and ordinary members of the public to end global warming to ensure food security in developing countries.

They note the problem of climate change is making it more difficult for farmers to grow enough food to feed themselves and earn good money from the farms.

They have been speaking at a panel discussion organised by the New York State-based Cornell University’s Alliance for Science Program in Ithaca – USA.

The discussion which was under the theme “global agriculture in the face of climate change” gave the opportunity to residents in the Ithaca community to ask young people from Ghana, China, Mexico, Uganda and Nigeria about the impact that climate change is having on agricultural production in their home countries and continents.

Journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited Joseph Opoku Gakpo who was part of the five-member panel that participated in the discussion noted that climate change has resulted in poor rainfall patterns in Ghana, thus causing farmers huge yield losses and massive debts.

“We produced a documentary last year titled ‘Lost Harvest’ and it highlighted how long periods of drought resulted in crop failures across the country… It caused the price of maize to rise by about 70 percent,” he explained.

He advocated for the modernization of agricultural production procedures and the improvement of indigenous surviving techniques to help rural communities deal with the problem.

Nassib Mugwanya who works at the Ugandan Biosciences Information Center expressed similar sentiments, saying “smallholder farmers in Uganda have noticed changes in rainfall patterns. This is affecting their planting season.”

Modesta Abugu Nnedinso who works with the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Nigeria noted the need for farmers to have access to improved seeds that can resist harsh weather conditions.

She explained some work is already ongoing in her country to develop such seeds, but there was the need to scale up the efforts.

Climate change refers to rise in the temperature of the atmosphere resulting in extreme weather conditions like drought. Various human activities including the heavy use of fossil fuels have led to the warming of the globe, resulting in this.

It is estimated that the world loses more than US $1.2 trillion as a result of climate change. Yan Mi who is founder of Youth Lead, an environmental non-governmental organisation in China made a passionate appeal to all citizens of the world to play individual roles in dealing with the problem.

“We need to spread awareness and change people's minds. We need to save water, save food, and make an effort to move towards more sustainability,” he said.

Wildlife advocate and Conservation Practitioner from Mexico, Sol Guerrero Ortiz called for a return to the basic principles of environmental protection as a way to save the planet from further destruction.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle, That is so basic. It can be introduced in schools, offices, public sector and private sector. Even that small action can have some degree of impact,” she appealed.