A recent comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on agriculture, made by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), has indicated that the yield of wheat may drop by as much as 50 per cent by 2050 from 2000 levels in South Asia. The productivity of rice is projected to dip by 17 per cent and that of maize by 6 per cent by that time. This study has also indicated that the prices of food crops like wheat, rice, maize and others will rise by between 121 per cent and 194 per cent by 2050 due to factors related to climate change. This, coupled with decreased yields of these crops, will threaten food security of some 1.6 billion people in South Asia and render 25 million more children malnourished world wide by 2050.