Nuclear famine is much worse than nuclear war!

What could be worse than a nuclear war? A nuclear famine following a nuclear war.

Experts predict a nuclear war between India and Pakistan would kill about 22 million people from blast, acute radiation, and firestorms. However, the global famine caused by such a “limited” nuclear war would result in 2 billion deaths over 10 years.

That’s right, a nuclear famine. A war using fewer than half their weapons would lift so much black soot and soil into the air that it would cause a nuclear winter. Such a scenario was known as far back as the 1980s, but no one had calculated the impact on agriculture.
The irradiated cloud would cover vast portions of the Earth, bringing low temperatures, shorter growing seasons, sudden crop-killing extremes of temperature and altered rainfall patterns, and would not dissipate for about 10 years.

Overall production of crops would fall, hitting their low in year five and gradually recovering by year 10. Corn and soybeans in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri would suffer an average of 10 percent and, in year five, 20 percent. In China, corn would fall by 16 percent over the decade, rice by 17 percent, and wheat by 31 percent.

Making the impact even worse, there are already almost 800 million malnourished people in the world. A mere 10 percent decline in their calorie intake puts them at risk for starvation.

[link to host.madison.com]