Harnessing breeding and biotechnological innovations for global food security under climate change

The escalating concerns of environmental protection and global food security are exacerbated by biotic and abiotic stresses, including drought, heat waves, cold shocks, and flooding, all of these significantly reduce crop yields and threaten food supply. Climate change amplifies these challenges, imposing a severe impact on agricultural productivity and food security globally. To address these challenges, it is crucial to enhance food production through the development of climate resilient crops, with a focus on crops that are resistant to both abiotic and biotic stresses. This can be achieved through conventional breeding, biotechnology, and advanced omics techniques such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. These approaches have illuminated key genes, proteins, and metabolic pathways that are critical for improving crop resilience. Sustainable farming practices, including intercropping, agroforestry, and the use of biofertilizers and biochar, are also key strategies for improving soil structure and water retention. Furthermore, supportive policies such as agricultural extension services, collaboration between public and private sectors, and farmer education on climate resilient crops are essential for fostering climate resilience in agriculture. This review consolidates current knowledge and highlights the role of these strategies in tackling food insecurity, with a focus on the genomic innovations that underpin climate resilience in plants.