Climate change to cause drop in local farmland prices: report

SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- Global climate change could cause local farmland
prices to fall by as much as 18.6 million won (US$15,000) per hectare by 2020, an
agricultural think tank said Wednesday in a report.

If the average temperature rises by 1 C, the resulting drop in yield could cause
farmland prices to fall between 14.5 million won and 19.2 million won per
hectare, according to the report by the state-run Korea Rural Economic Institute
(KREI).
But the drop would be offset somewhat if yearly rainfall rises by 12 millimeters,
as moderate increases in rain generally lead to better crop output, the report
said.
"If the predicted rise in temperature and precipitation is applied to forecasts
indicating the country's average temperature rising 1.2 C in 2020 and
precipitation increasing by around 11 percent in the same year, land prices could
fall between 13.4 million to 18.6 million won," Kim Chang-gil, a research fellow
at KREI said.
Kim based his results on forecast data provided by the Ministry of Environment.
If global warming causes average temperature to rise by 2 C throughout the world,
rice production from a 10-are -- or 1,000 square-meter -- paddy field would fall
by 4.5 percent, while a 3 C rise could lead to a 8.2 percent fall in rice
production, the researcher said.
Rice production rises if the average temperature hovers around 19 C between April
and October, but falls if the temperature exceed the 20 C mark, according to the
report.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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