Published: 12:00 AM, 27 October 2026
Climate Resilient Crops: An Urgent Focus to Combat Climate Change Threats
Sk Shoaibur Rahaman
Global agricultural production is confronting huge damage due to the unprecedented effects of climate change. Erratic rainfall, prolonged drought, saltwater intrusion to cultivated areas, as well as new emergence and infestation of insect pests and diseases, all could be linked to the direct and indirect outcomes of climatic fluctuation, resulting in massive production losses and food insecurity, which are affecting both consumers and farmers. Bangladesh is not an exception here either. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that 9.8% of the global population suffered from food insecurity as of 2021. It brings scientists and policymakers into a critical situation which needs to be solved urgently to ensure food security. It is suggested that the paradigm of global agricultural architecture should be shifted toward a more climate-resilient farming ecosystem, which ensures sustainability and food security. To implement this, we need to focus on the crops which are genetically superior to survive in adverse environments (drought, flood, salinity, etc.) and give stable yield simultaneously. Moreover, it will reduce dependence on major crops and contribute to farm diversification.
Most of the major crops come with cultivation trade-offs. For example, rice cultivation emits methane, a major greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. Similarly, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide are emitted from wheat and maize farming. Moreover, these crops demand highly productive soil, irrigation, fertilization and are susceptible to adverse environmental factors and diseases. The excessive reliance on such crops could break the whole food supply and induce massive uncertainty in production. Though scientists are improving these crops massively and so far contributed to the development of drought-tolerant rice, salt-tolerant wheat and heat-resilient maize, making these varieties available for timely cultivation across every corner of the world is not practically feasible. Moreover, development of such targeted traits in crops needs huge investment, high-resolution labs and technical expertise. On the contrary, if more focus is given on the cultivation of inherently outstanding crops which thrive in changing environments, it will be rewarding for the climate and farmers who could be able to diversify and augment their income generation. Let’s delve into the realm of such eco-friendly crops.
Numerous crops fall into the category of climate-resilient crops: sesame, sorghum, foxtail millet, cassava, quinoa, pigeon pea, amaranth, etc. Those crops fit into the everyday consumers’ diet so well that some demand gaps of the major crops which exhaust soil and are highly input-intensive could be well-replenished. To illustrate, sesame thrives in drought- and saline-prone areas as it has naturally improved defense mechanisms and requires less care (demand of fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation and labors is less) to give good yield and could be planted during kharif-1 season (summer, pre-monsoon). Sesame seeds contain 40-62% oil, outclassing its counterpart oil crop soybean (oil content 20%) and are enriched in several antioxidants which promote human health by reducing cholesterol, helping in liver detoxification, etc. Despite possessing such salient features, sesame is not being cultivated widely as expected. Like sesame, sorghum and millets can be cultivated during kharif-1 which also offer exceptional agronomic features. Millets are short-duration crops (70-90 days) and are considered highly water-efficient. Millets could be used as a direct replacement for rice and wheat in our everyday diets. Moreover, their gluten-free nature and low glycemic index provide numerous health benefits, such as maintaining sugar levels, good gut health and making digestion easier. Amaranth, a climate-resilient leafy vegetable crop which could be produced in only 30-45 days during kharif-1, provides enough room for the farmers to follow it with grain crops like sorghum/millets/aus rice in the same season. Such rotation of crops in the same season doubles the income of farmers as well and promotes rural livelihood.
However, these climate-resilient crops discussed here have failed to draw necessary attention from both scientists and policymakers. We need to redesign and reshape our existing farming ecosystem to promote the cultivation of such crops on a broad scale to harvest maximum returns utilizing our changing environment, to safeguard food security and to elevate farmers’ lifestyles. This is only possible when crop breeders, policymakers and extension personnel will work together: Breeders should advance such crops for large-scale suitability, policymakers with the help of government should integrate these crops in national crop production plan, allocate funds where necessary and extension organizations should distribute quality seeds of such crops and motivate farmers to grow climate-resilient crops.
Sk Shoaibur Rahaman is a plant breeder and Research Assistant
at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka.
