Gauging on the Impact of Climate Change on Food Crops Production in Mauritius: In Quest for Weather Derivatives Applicability

To maintain an ever-increasing population level, much stress is exerted on the production of food crops. However, as at date, very little is known about how climate change is influencing the production of food crops in Mauritius, an upper-income developing country found in the Indian Ocean and highly vulnerable to climate risks. The current research delves into an extensive analysis of different food crops, ranging from Bananas, Beans, Brinjals, Cabbages, Chillies, Creepers, Groundnuts, Mixed Vegetables, Pineapples and Tomatoes over three decades. To the author’s best knowledge, no study has been undertaken in Mauritius, let 
alone developing of an econometric model that properly integrates production, harvest area and weather metrics. Results show weather metrics do influence the production of crops in Mauritius with cyclone being particularly harmful for Tomatoes, Chillies and Creepers. Temperature is found to trail behind bearish impacts on tomatoes and cabbages production but positive impacts in case of Bananas, Brinjals and Pineapples productions while Humidity enhances production of Beans, Creepers and Groundnuts. Evidence is found in favor of production being mainly governed by harvest area. Overall, the study points out the need of weather derivatives in view of hedging against crop damages, let alone initiation of adaptation strategies to undermine the adverse effects of climate change.