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Open research questions in Climate change impacts on agriculture

65 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 939 Climate change impacts on agriculture papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Arising from recommended: the findings, the following are agencies i. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency and agricultural should extension strengthen climate monitoring systems and improve the timely dissemination of seasonal rainfall and temperature forecasts to farmers in Gwagwalada Area Council, given the demonstrated divergence rainfall and temperature trends across the upper, middle and lower zones. in ii. Agricultural extension services should assist farmers in aligning planting calendars with the onset and seasonal distribution of rainfall specific to their zone, rather than applying a uniform planting recommendation across the Area Council. iii. Research rainfall intensify flowering, given institutions should the development and dissemination of maize varieties tolerant of both moisture stress during the reproductive stage and elevated the temperature during demonstrated sensitivity of maize yield to JJAS and MAM maximum temperature. including Post-harvest handling improved drying and storage facilities, should be extended to farmers in the upper and rot middle zones associated with increased OND rainfall during the harvest period. the maize support, reduce to iv. REFERENCES Altieri, M. A. (1995). Agroecology: The science of sustainable agriculture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Andressen, J., Olson, J., Massawa, S., & Maitima, J. (2008). The effects of climate change and land use changes on climate and agricultural systems in Kenya. CLIP Policy Workshop. Ayanlade, A., & Radeny, M. (2020).

    Microclimate Patterns and Their Impacts on Maize Production in Gwagwalada Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria · 2026 · DOI

  • Climate-Resilient Cultivars: Accelerate breeding and dissemination of heat-tolerant, dwarf 1. apple and mango varieties, and rejuvenate indigenous germplasm conservation. Infrastructure Investment: Build dedicated rail-freight corridors for perishables, expand 2. cold-chain hubs, and climate-proof the Jammu–Srinagar highway. Micro-Irrigation Expansion: Extend drip and sprinkler systems to the 80% rainfed 3. horticultural area in Jammu. Insurance Reform: Design index-based products with vegetation health triggers (e.g., NDVI) 4. and expedited claims for fruit crops. Agro-Advisory Systems: Strengthen localized weather forecasting and extension services to 5. guide farmers on planting, spraying, and harvest timing under erratic conditions.

    Climate Change-Induced Agricultural Losses in India: A Case Study of Jammu and Kashmir’s Apple and Mango Economies · 2026 · DOI

  • and importance remain at low levels of adoption while livestock farming and agroforestry practices are still emerging in parts of north, south and arid regions of Punjab. Though climate smart livestock farming and agroforestry hold considerable long-term potential for livelihood diversification, resilience and ecological restoration (CIAT and FAO, 2018). Livelihood diversification should be interpreted primarily as a risk-management and adaptation strategy rather than a direct resilience outcome. However, diversified income sources may strengthen household climate-sensitive resilience agricultural production and recovery potential following climatic shocks. reducing dependence improving on by Evidence from vulnerable districts such as Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh and Chakwal further highlights that CSA adoption patterns vary significantly across these districts due to local climatic and socio-economic conditions, where farmers face persistent constraints in knowledge, finance and institutional support. Overall, the analysis indicates that staple crops and better-sourced areas are advancing more quickly in CSA adoption whereas resource-constrained regions show slower progress, highlighting the need for targeted support and contextspecific interventions (Jamil et al., 2021). among adoption Despite the reported benefits of CSA practices in Punjab, their effectiveness varies considerably across agro-ecological zones, farming systems and socio-economic contexts. For example, irrigation technologies such as drip and sprinkler efficient systems have shown greater effectiveness in water-scarce and high-value cropping areas, particularly in horticultural zones of southern Punjab, whereas smallholders limited because of high cultivating staple crops remains installation and maintenance costs. Similarly, conservation tillage and residue management practices have demonstrated positive effects on soil moisture retention and input efficiency in wheatbased systems, but their effectiveness is influenced by soil conditions, machinery access, farm size and farmer technical knowledge. In rainfed and arid areas, drought- and heat-tolerant crop varieties contribute to yield stability under climatic stress; however, some studies report inconsistent performance due to variability in rainfall patterns, seed quality and extension support. These findings indicate that CSA effectiveness is highly contextspecific rather than universally applicable across Punjab’s diverse agricultural systems. 6 Building socio-ecological resilience through CSA CSA provides a critical pathway for building socio-ecological resilience in Punjab, where agricultural systems are highly threatened by prevailing climate change, natural disasters (floods and droughts), and land degradation. Figure 4. Illustrates that the adoption of CSA provides multiple socio-economic and ecological benefits that are widely reported in the literature to potentially contribute to adaptation outcomes. The literature also reveals important trade-offs and contradictory findings associated with CSA adoption. While many CSA practices improve productivity and resource-use efficiency, some interventions may unintentionally increase environmental or socio-economic pressures.

    Adoption of climate smart agriculture for enhancing socio-ecological resilience: a systematic review of evidence from Punjab, Pakistan · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the consistency of TPE spatial patterns across multi-decadal simulations and their agreement with observed cropping zones suggest that the identified environmental typologies are structurally robust, even if absolute yield values remain uncertain.

    Modelling genotype and environment interactions to delineate sorghum target population environments in Senegal · 2026 · DOI

  • The widespread adoption of crop diversification demonstrates farmers’ reliance on indigenous knowledge, yet the persistence of yield declines and income losses indicates that these strategies are insufficient without institutional support (Rankoana, 2024).

    Weathering the Storm: Assessing the Effects of Climate Change on Subsistence Farming in Wegdraai Village · 2026 · DOI

  • The review identifies major structural gaps in the literature, including inadequate integration of climate, agriculture, and carbon dynamics; limited long-term and multiscalar studies; insufficient ground validation; methodological inconsistencies; and substantial geographical underrepresentation of climate-vulnerable regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Geospatial Assessment of Climate Variability Impacts on Agricultural Systems and Carbon Sequestration under Regenerative Farming Practices: A Systematic Review · 2026 · DOI

  • 1), the model’s robustness against more extreme climatic events remains to be fully constrained. Study limitations and future research directions Despite providing a robust, empirically-grounded assess- ment, the interpretation of these results must be made with consideration of the inherent limitations of this study, which simultaneously outline crucial pathways for future research aimed at enhancing food security projections in arid regions like Birjand: 1.

    The investigation of adaptation methods to drought and climate change for wheat plant using AquaCrop vegetation model · 2026 · DOI

  • The relatively short time interval evaluated in this study (20 years) represents an important limitation, since climate analyses commonly rely on longer historical series to increase statistical robustness and reduce the influence of interannual climate variability.

    Evidence of climate change in Brazilian subtropical agricultural areas: a preliminary study · 2026 · DOI

  • This study relied on self-reported data which may be subject to recall bias regarding pre-adoption yields and motivations (Beegle et al., 2012). The study’s geographic focus on Gwanda District limits generalizability of the results to other agro-ecological zones. The cross-sectional design prevents assessment of adoption persistence over time. Future research should employ longitudinal designs tracking adoption across multiple seasons, incorporate objective yield measurements, and conduct comparative studies across districts and agro-ecological zones. Despite these constraints, the study’s methodological rigour, through triangulation of multiple data sources, contextual depth, and theoretical grounding in livelihood and resilience frameworks, provide robust insights for programme refinement and policy development across semi-arid southern Africa.

    Perceived drivers of conservation agriculture adoption among smallholder farmers in a dry ecological region · 2026 · DOI

  • comparative studies across Nigeria’s agroecological zones (e.g., Sahel, Guinea Savannah, and Rainforest) to capture regional variations in RA’s performance. This would enhance generalizability and inform region-specific policies. Future studies should also consider integrating direct measurements, such as soil nutrient levels, moisture content, or weather data from local stations, alongside self-reported data.

    Contextualizing the marginal returns of regenerative agriculture on maize performance under climate change in Nigeria · 2026 · DOI

  • Several limitations should be considered when interpreting the findings of this study. First, the study relied on a cross-sectional design conducted in 2024–2025, capturing resilience at a single point in time rather than tracking dynamic changes before and after major shocks. Second, while the sample of 270 households (45 per site) was statistically representative at the site level, it remains modest relative to the total population of smallholder livestock farmers in Fiji, and results should be interpreted primarily at the provincial rather than national scale. Third, the resilience index was constructed as a composite measure derived from five livelihood capital domains, which necessarily simplifies complex household realities into aggregated scores. Although this approach allows systematic comparison across districts and livestock systems, moderate strength in one livelihood capital cannot fully offset severe weakness in others under the aggregated structure, meaning that some localized adaptive strengths may be partially masked in the final composite score. This is particularly relevant in livestock systems where households may perform relatively well in financial capital while remaining highly constrained in natural, social, or physical capital.

    Livelihood resilience of smallholder livestock farmers in the face of climate change in Fiji · 2026 · DOI

  • No empirical data or validation is provided for the projected net savings of US$ 2.2-3.7 billion and job creation estimates of 35,000-40,000 from electric vehicle adoption.

    Integrating ICT and climate resilience for agricultural transformation in Pakistan: a hybrid econometric and machine learning approach · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper lacks detailed quantitative analysis of how ICT integration specifically contributes to climate resilience outcomes in agricultural transformation beyond general policy descriptions.

    Integrating ICT and climate resilience for agricultural transformation in Pakistan: a hybrid econometric and machine learning approach · 2026 · DOI

  • To fill this gap in the literature, the paper combines real time weather data provided by Indian Meteorological Department with a very rich household data on Indian states belonging to the eastern and semi-arid tropic regions collected by ICRISAT to investigate whether farmers always resort to migration or take it up as a second-best option only after they fail to diversify locally on the face of climate change induced crop loss.

    Does local non-farm income moderate the intensity of climate change induced migration in India? · 2024 · DOI

  • However, an understanding of the effects of changes in temperature and rainfall throughout the crop cycle on historical yield progress is lacking in Europe (EU).

    Will temperature and rainfall changes prevent yield progress in Europe? · 2022 · DOI

  • Plantation records are not limited to the southeastern US and include diverse geographic locations in less developed areas which were often the same areas were enslaved labor was exploited under the plantation system.

    Plantation Records as a Source of Historical Weather and Agricultural Data · 2018 · DOI

  • It remains endemic in the Horn of Africa -Ethiopia and Sudan have both suffered mass mortality famines within the last five yearsit seems to be spreading to parts of Africa that were previously famine-free and it remains to be seen whether the North Korea famine during the 1990s was an aberration (the last ever 'central planning' famine) or the harbinger of something new.

    The ‘New Famines’ · 2002 · DOI

  • However, interaction of physico-environmental and politico-economic factors resulting in the 1972-73 drought and famine and the adaptive responses of the pastoralists in the Awash Valley remain to be studied in depth.

    Development, Drought, and Famine in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia · 1982 · DOI

  • s b ~oe~ not consideration of the problems of production in these bU • umId areas suggest that efficiency of crop production could "et~e[ be evaluated in terms of the contributory factors (such as the "y~eld per unit of moisture used") than in terms of the customary YIe d per morgen "? (d) There remain to be considered the truly humid areas of th th e land, where the average annual rainfall exceeds 875 mm.

    The Influence of Climatic Factors on the Agricultural Development of South Africa · 1957 · DOI

  • While the scholarship has already investigated in detail the issues of climate governance, biodiversity conservation and health security, there are limited studies that focus on how the loss of medicinal plants due to climate change impacts traditional health care systems and health security.

    Climate-Induced Medicinal Plant Decline and Its Implications for Traditional Healthcare Systems and Health Security in Nigeria (2000–2025): A Governance–Ecology–Health Systems Review · 2026 · DOI

  • There are significant gaps in the understanding of how climate stressors impact employee productivity, safety, and the pillars of decent work in Southern Africa because the majority of previous research has concentrated on environmental effects.

    Building a climate resilient workforce in Southern Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the extent to which socio-economic, institutional and adaptive-capacity factors moderate these climate effects across different agro-ecological settings remains insufficiently understood.

    Climate change impacts on agricultural productivity and resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • However, they faced several challenges in execut- ing these adaptation approaches, including distance to extension agents, inadequate government support, shift- ing cultivation practices, and limited knowledge of water management techniques in the region.

    Vulnerability and Resilience: Assessing Factors that Shape Climate Change Adaptation Outcomes among Dwellers of the Okomu Forest Reserve’s Adjacent Communities · 2026 · DOI

  • Agricultural co‐operatives have emerged as a promising solution to increase farmers' resilience; however, their role across different co‐operative types remains underexplored.

    Co‐Operative Membership: A Pathway to Climate Resilience for Smallholder Farmers · 2026 · DOI

  • Although the impact of growing period rainfall variability on crop yields has been well studied in East Africa, characterizing rainfall anomalies during the crop harvesting season and their effect on crop yields remains unexplored.

    Excessive rainfall anomalies during the dry season (harvest period) and their impact on rainfed crop yields in Ethiopia · 2026 · DOI

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