Orphan crops for future food security

Climate change, along with current agricultural practices, is going to pose a significant challenge for future food security, especially in developing countries. Orphan crops can help mitigate this threat due to their inherent properties of stress tolerance and nutrition content. Industrialization of agriculture has left these minor crops behind in terms of domestication. As a result, the potential of these crops is underutilized. These crops can be a game-changer in the long term if necessary steps are taken to improve the quality as well as quantity of yield. Concerted efforts by many groups around the world have been taken for research and development of these crops. Besides, the unique properties of these crops have caught the media attention, which hails these crops as superfoods. Favourable government policies to promote these crops can help in the large-scale adoption of these crops by the farming community. Besides, the stress-resilience of these crops can help boost the sustainability of agriculture and ensure food security for future generations.