Project4646 - Climate change in agriculture, food safety and know-how transfer between Germany and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Regional climate models predict an increase in the average annual temperature for Central Asia of 4 to 6°C by 2074. According to the IPCC report, the impact of the climate crisis on Kazakhstan’s agriculture will intensify accordingly in the future. Wheat yields are expected to fall by 6% for every degree of temperature increase. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest wheat producers and 25% of the working population is employed in the agricultural sector. Adapting Kazakhstan’s agriculture to the effects of the climate crisis is therefore of key importance for the national economy and global food security. Scientists from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs have examined scientific research on climate change in Central Asian countries between 1991 and 2021. As a result, it can be stated that climate change was neglected in Central Asian regional studies. Out of a total of 13,488 journal articles in eight key journals for Central Asian research, only 33 articles (0.24%) dealt with climate change or a related topic. Accordingly, there is a lack of current studies on the perception of climate change and its impacts within the Kazakh population.

The aim of the project “Project4646” is a feasibility study on the topics of “Climate change in agriculture, food safety and know-how transfer between Germany and the Republic of Kazakhstan” and comprises two study phases. In the first step, a preliminary study on the perception of climate change by farmers, political decision-makers and agricultural actors is carried out using surveys in focus group format. The second step involves a direct survey of farmers’ perceptions of the climate crisis. For the final feasibility study, a multivariate statistical analysis of the collected data will be carried out. The results will then be made available to Kazakh decision-makers and farmers. In the future, the feasibility study will be used to develop targeted instruments to further strengthen the adaptability of agricultural enterprises in Kazakhstan to the climate crisis.

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