Modern plant biotechnology as a strategy in addressing climate change and attaining food security

Abstract

Global warming causes a range of negative impacts on plants especially due to rapid changes in temperatures, alterations of rainfall patterns, floods or drought conditions, and outbreaks of pests and diseases. These, in turn, affect crop production reducing the quality and quantity of agricultural produce. Climatic extremes and high population growth significantly increase the world’s food demand. Therefore, fulfilling the goal of attaining food security for the present and future generations is of prime importance. Biotechnology enables creating dramatic alterations on crops to withstand stress which is difficult to attain using conventional breeding approaches. It is a viable tool used to improve agricultural production. The development of biotechnological approaches such as genetic engineering, genome editing, RNA-mediated gene silencing armored with next-generation sequencing, and genome mapping have paved the way for precise and faster genetic modifications of plants. Such intensive efforts are currently underway creating desirable crop cultivars to meet the food demand and to support sustainable agricultural productivity for climate change adaptation.