UPSC Mains 2023 GS1 Q4: model answer
Discuss the consequences of climate change on the food security in tropical countries.
What the question wants
How climate change hits availability, access, utilisation and stability of food in tropical countries.
How to structure it
Intro: tropical countries are closer to crop heat limits and depend on rain-fed farming. Body: (1) Availability: heat stress cuts yields of wheat, rice, maize; erratic monsoon, droughts and floods; (2) Fisheries and livestock: warming seas, coral loss, heat-stressed cattle; (3) Pests and diseases (locusts); (4) Access: price spikes, rural incomes; (5) Nutrition: lower protein and zinc in crops under high CO2; (6) Stability: frequent shocks. Conclusion: adaptation through resilient seeds, irrigation, insurance and safety nets.
- 1(1) Availability: heat stress cuts yields of wheat, rice, maize
- 2Erratic monsoon, droughts and floods
- 3(2) Fisheries and livestock: warming seas, coral loss, heat-stressed cattle
- 4(3) Pests and diseases (locusts)
- 5(4) Access: price spikes, rural incomes
- 6(5) Nutrition: lower protein and zinc in crops under high CO2
- 7(6) Stability: frequent shocks
Model answer
Most tropical countries already farm near the heat limits of crops, rely on rain and have many poor households, so climate change hits their food security hardest.
- Lower yields: each degree of warming cuts wheat, rice and maize yields; India's March 2022 heatwave reduced wheat output.
- Erratic rain: droughts in the Horn of Africa and floods in Pakistan (2022) destroy crops and stocks.
- Fisheries: warming seas and coral bleaching shift fish stocks away from tropical coasts.
- Livestock: heat stress reduces milk yield.
- Pests: warm, wet spells helped the 2019–20 desert locust outbreak across East Africa and South Asia.
- Nutrition: higher CO2 lowers protein, iron and zinc in grains.
- Access: price spikes and lost farm incomes push the poor into hunger.
- Sea-level rise: salinity in deltas like the Mekong and Sundarbans.
Climate-resilient seeds, micro-irrigation, crop insurance, diversified diets and strong public distribution can protect food security.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
heat stress erratic monsoon locusts nutritional quality salinity
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing only about crop yields.
- No tropical examples.
Fresh examples from current affairs
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1 Oct 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/QP-CSM-23-GENERAL-STUDIES-PAPER-I-180923.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.