Integrative approaches in sorghum improvement: From nutritional security to industrial sustainability

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is a global strategy for enhancing food productivity amidst climate change uncertainties in the 21st century. CSA improves farmers’ incomes, reduces greenhouse emissions, and farming systems become resilient to climate change. Despite the vital role that CSA plays in the development of the agricultural industry and the economy, the extent to which CSA is related to sustainable agriculture (SA) is not well documented. Is CSA the same as SA? If they are the same, do CSA practices impose mitigation requirements for developing countries like Uganda? Studies or research on CSA and SA unfortunately have certain shortcomings. Lack of this knowledge makes it difficult to plan investments and develop policies that will increase farmers’ resilience to climate change and variability to improve SA. This study is aimed at assessing how CSA links to SA and whether the two contribute to climate change mitigation requirements. It was found that CSA and SA are also related in a way that the latter leads to lowering greenhouse gas emissions hence mitigating climate change. CSA and SA share a common principal goal of achieving food security. It was concluded that developing countries are the worst affected by the negative impacts of climate change and don’t have the adaptive capacity to respond to climate change effects.

This review provides an in-depth examination of the principles, practices, and challenges associated with sustainable and climate-smart agriculture. Sustainable agriculture, with its focus on soil health, biodiversity, water management, and reduced chemical inputs, is crucial for meeting current food production needs while preserving resources for future generations. Climate Smart Agriculture builds upon sustainability by emphasizing climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, including climate-resilient crop selection, greenhouse gas reduction, and technology integration. However, several challenges hinder the widespread adoption of these practices. Indian Farmers often lack knowledge and resources, while financial constraints and policy barriers pose significant hurdles. Additionally, climate variability and market access issues further complicate the transition to sustainable and climate-smart agriculture. Efforts to address these challenges require comprehensive education and training programs, supportive policies, financial incentives, and increased collaboration among governments, NGOs, and the private sector. Achieving sustainable and Climate Smart Agriculture is crucial for ensuring food security and resilience in the face of climate change.

In the face of global environmental change, the notion of climate smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as an approach which can contribute to increased agricultural production and income of poor households. This paper explores the suitability of adopting CSA practices for promoting sustainable agriculture in order to attain global food and nutritional security. It also explores the links among the components of CSA (productivity, adaptation and mitigation) and their contribution to achieving the goal of sustainable agricultural development. Despite the potential of CSA to attain sustainable agriculture, poor connections exist among the components of CSA at the field level. More importantly, the concept is sometimes poorly understood by various levels of stakeholders. In order to attain a better future, it is crucial to disseminate CSA approaches to field level by including them in academic syllabi, seminars, symposiums, and research.

Climate change poses significant challenges to global agriculture, threatening food security, livelihoods, and ecosystem sustainability. This review explores the influence of climate change on agronomic practices and the strategies needed for crop adaptation. As rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and increasing frequency of extreme weather events impact crop productivity, there is a growing need for climate-resilient agricultural practices. National and international policies, including climate-smart agriculture (CSA) initiatives and global climate agreements like the Paris Agreement, play a critical role in promoting sustainable agricultural frameworks. Agricultural extension services are crucial in disseminating knowledge and providing technical assistance to farmers, enabling them to adopt adaptive practices such as drought-resistant crop varieties, water conservation, and integrated pest management. Emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and advanced breeding techniques, are driving innovation in agriculture, offering precise, data-driven solutions for improving climate resilience. AI and ML are being utilized to predict climate impacts, optimize resource use, and provide early warnings for pest and disease outbreaks. In parallel, advanced breeding techniques, including CRISPR-Cas9 and genomic selection, accelerate the development of climate-resilient crops by enabling faster and more precise breeding of traits such as drought and heat tolerance. Long-term monitoring of climate and agronomic changes through remote sensing technologies and climate models provides critical data for understanding climate impacts and refining adaptation strategies. Public-private partnerships are essential for scaling up climate-resilient agriculture by facilitating the mobilization of financial resources and promoting research and development (R&D) collaborations that lead to the development of innovative technologies and climate-smart practices. Additionally, enhancing global collaboration in agricultural research is vital for addressing the diverse impacts of climate change across regions. Overall, a combination of policy support, technological advancements, and coordinated research efforts is crucial for developing effective strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems in the face of climate change.

This paper investigates Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), a comprehensive strategy aimed at improving agricultural efficiency and sustainability while addressing the challenges of climate change. It examines the economic advantages of CSA for adopters compared to traditional farming methods and assesses CSA's role in mitigating climate change, adapting to its impacts, and enhancing food security. The study reviews essential CSA practices, including agroforestry, conservation agriculture, water-efficient irrigation technologies, crop diversification, improved livestock management, and soil carbon sequestration, as well as the barriers to adoption, such as limited funding, arable land, land tenure issues, and insufficient expertise. Agroforestry and crop rotation have shown encouraging results, with agroforestry serving as a cost-effective solution for food production and environmental preservation. Dairy companies boosted milk consumption from 529,000 to 3 million liters, while farmer profits grew from $0.2 to $0.3 per liter. Rice yields have increased, from 3-4 tons to 7.5 tons per hectare. In cotton farming, CSA adopters cut input costs compared to traditional methods, resulting in long-term economic gains. Crop rotation increased maize productivity by 5–10%, while new irrigation techniques improved water efficiency by 5–35%. However, regions without CSA methods experienced significant livestock losses, highlighting the importance of widespread adoption to ensure resilience. Despite CSA’s advantages, its widespread adoption is hindered by financial and knowledge barriers. Future research should focus on optimizing multiple cropping systems, crop diversification, and no-till agriculture. CSA, particularly when integrated with technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), offers a promising path toward more adaptive and resilient agricultural practices. Broader adoption will require investments in research and resources to effectively scale CSA innovations.

Climate change impacts on agriculture are varied over space and time. The effects are heterogeneous and highly uncertain. Innovation in agriculture is clearly an important response for effective and equitable adaptation and mitigation – and we need to rethink how to promote innovation to address the heterogeneity and uncertainty of climate change impacts. In moving towards climate smart agricultural (CSA) systems in developing and developed countries, innovation will be key. For CSA we will need greater resilience in agricultural systems and also greater efficiency of resource use for both adaptation and mitigation. Technological innovation will need to play a key role – but its not enough. Managerial and institutional innovations are likely to be even more important in dealing with the heterogeneous and uncertain impacts of climate change. Innovation can complement other forms of adaptation to climate change to form CSA practices. In particular innovation can enhance technology adoption, may prevent or facilitate migration of production/population, enhance trade & aid, and increase efficiency of insurance & feasibility of inventories. We discuss their main features and the nature of innovation needed to align these actions with a CSA strategy.

Sorghum is a climate-resilient crop which has been cultivated as a staple food in the semi-arid areas of Africa and Asia for food and nutrition security. However, the current climate change is increasingly affecting sorghum performance, especially at the flowering stage when water availability is critical for grain filling, thus lowering the sorghum grain yield. The development of climate-resilient, biotic and abiotic stress-tolerant, market-preferred, and nutrient-dense sorghum varieties offers a potentially cost-effective and environmentally sustainable strategy for adapting to climate change. Some of the common technologies for sorghum improvement include mass selection, single seed descent, pure line selection, and marker-assisted selection, facilitated by backcrossing and genotyping using molecular markers. In addition, recent advancements including new machine learning algorithms, gene editing, genomic selection, rapid generation advancement, and recycling of elite material, along with high-throughput phenotyping tools such as drone- and satellite-based images and other speed-breeding techniques, have increased the precision, speed, and accuracy of new crop variety development. In addition to these modern breeding tools and technologies, enhancing genetic diversity to incorporate various climate resilience traits, including against heat and drought stress, into the current sorghum breeding pools is critical. This review covers the potential of sorghum as a staple food crop, explores the genetic diversity of sorghum, discusses the challenges facing sorghum breeding, highlights the recent advancements in technologies for sorghum breeding, and addresses the perceptions of farmers on sorghum production under the current climate change conditions.

Genetic dissection of bioenerrgy traits in sorghum

Climate change significantly threatens agriculture and food systems in developing countries, especially in Senegal, where agriculture is vital for livelihoods and economic advancement. A study investigated the factors influencing the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) innovations among smallholder farmers in Koumpentum, Senegal. Through comprehensive research and multistage random sampling, 270 smallholder farmers were interviewed using structured questionnaires. The results indicated that 56.3% of the farmers have adopted CSA practices. Household size, perceived climate change, and access to climate advisory information positively influenced 70.4% of farmers to adopt crop rotation. Additionally, the farmer's experience (in years) and perception of climate change influenced the adoption of conservation tillage. The study highlights how smallholder-specific characteristics and external influences interact to determine CSA adoption. Moreover, it underscores the need for targeted interventions to promote CSA practices, emphasizing the importance of farmer education, access to climate advisory services, and capacity building. Based on our findings, the policy recommendations include aligning CSA innovations with smallholder preferences and local conditions to enhance adoption rates and strengthen climate resilience in agricultural systems. Policymakers should integrate CSA into Senegalese agricultural policy and develop innovative financing mechanisms to encourage the adoption of adaptation technologies tailored to local contexts to address current and future climate risks.

Effectiveness and upscaling potential of climate smart agriculture interventions: Farmers' participatory prioritization and livelihood indicators as its determinants

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is a strategy aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen climate change resilience, raising crop production and incomes significantly. In a variety of agro-ecological zones, the implementation of climate smart agriculture methods has significantly improved the availability of food, adaptability to fluctuations in the climate, and emissions reduction. One of the key benefits of CSA is its ability to improve agricultural productivity and stabilize food security, particularly for small-scale farmers in developing nations who are most vulnerable to climate change. By integrating sustainable techniques such as conservation agriculture, crop diversification, and agroforestry, CSA helps ensure stable yields, even amid erratic weather patterns. Enhanced soil fertility, enhanced irrigation practices and the use of varieties of crops that are climate resilient all contribute to sustained productivity, mitigating the risks of crop failure and food shortages. CSA also strengthens agricultural systems' resilience to climate impacts by promoting practices like zero tillage, residue management, and efficient irrigation, which improve soil health and water retention, making crops more resistant to droughts and floods. In addition to boosting resilience, CSA contributes to climate change mitigation by reducing agriculture's carbon footprint. Precision farming, organic agriculture, and other low-emission practices help curb greenhouse gas emissions from farming activities. Mobile technology is also emerging as a key driver of CSA by providing real-time information, decision-making support, and access to essential resources, further enhancing the adaptability and sustainability of farming systems. The significance of CSA as a strategic solution to the threats that climate change poses to food security and agricultural sustainability is being more widely acknowledged by governments. As a result, numerous initiatives have been launched at national, regional, and international levels to encourage the widespread adoption of CSA practices. In order to achieve sustainable agricultural development and ensure food security in the face of climate change, CSA must be scaled up around the world.

MAGIC (Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross) breeding is a powerful approach that has gained significant attention in horticultural crop improvement. By inter crossing multiple diverse parental lines over multiple generations, MAGIC breeding aims to capture and combine genetic diversity to enhance desirable traits in the offspring. Magic breeding focuses on enhancing traits such as yield, quality, disease resistance, and stress tolerance in horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, and herbs. This method harnesses the power of genetic diversity within plant populations, utilizing advanced tools such as marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, and gene editing to accelerate the breeding process and achieve targeted outcomes. Overall, MAGIC breeding represents a promising avenue for sustainable horticultural crop improvement, offering opportunities to create cultivars that are more productive, resilient, and nutritious, thereby contributing to food security, environmental sustainability, and economic prosperity in agriculture. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the principles, applications, and advantages of MAGIC breeding in horticultural crops. It explores the breeding process, the impact on genetic variation, trait improvement, and the potential for discovering novel gene combinations. Additionally, the review discusses the challenges, current progress, and future prospects of MAGIC breeding, shedding light on its potential to revolutionize horticultural crop improvement.

Agriculture plays a strategic role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pillar 2, namely zero hunger, achieving food security, and improving sustainable agriculture. On the other hand, Indonesia is ranked the top third country in terms of climate risk with high exposure to natural disasters and extreme weather which can affect agricultural and environmental sustainability. The agricultural sector is vulnerable to climate change, but the fact is, the agricultural sector can also trigger climate change. Millennial farmers in West Java Province are mitigating climate change and supporting sustainable agriculture through implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in the cultivation of vegetable and fruit commodities with efficient management of plants, land, and water. CSA is relevant for achieving SDGs pillar 12 (responsible consumption and production) and pillar 13 (climate action), and also the CSA pillars: 1) Productivity, 2) Adaptation, and 3) Mitigation. The aim of this research is to describe CSA behavior of millennial farmers in West Java Province. This behavior is based on planning and implementing components in the highlands and lowlands. The research method used quantitative approach with descriptive analysis. The research sample was 198 Millennial Farmer Ambassadors and Mainstay Farmer Ambassadors of West Java Province. The research results show: 1) Planning behavior to implement CSA has a high level (48%), and 2) CSA implementation behavior consisting of plant management has a high level (72,96% in highland and 73,26% lowland), land management has a very high level (highlands 86,84% and lowlands 84,62%), and water management has a high level (highlands 77,14% and lowlands 73,46%).

Agriculture in dryland regions is directly affected by climate change. In Afghanistan, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) improves productivity resilience and reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). However, climate change, water shortage, population growth, and food insecurity are major challenges in developing countries such as Afghanistan. In the face of climate change, traditional agriculture methods need to be transformed into CSA that are capable of improving food production within the constraints of climate change. A review study was conducted to identify opportunities and challenges for CSA in Afghanistan. Among the many CSA technologies in Afghanistan, the review found, the use of drought resistance varieties, implementation of conservation agriculture, the use of Zai and Half-moon techniques for planting pits, moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, watershed management, drip irrigation system, soil carbon sequestration, control erosion techniques, and climate forecast services are the best opportunities and as promising options for risk management and adaptation to climate change. Still, unfortunately, most of these options have not yet been implemented by Afghan farmers, just followed by researchers. In addition, CSA in Afghanistan faces several solvable challenges. Limited understanding of the CSA concept and framework, limited investment to develop and implement CSA technologies, inadequate communication between government, policymakers, farmers, climate change impacts, GHG, and traditional agriculture. The review recommended that CSA practices be suitable options for all stakeholders to increase income and ensure food security and sustainable agriculture by adaptation practices against climate change. This review provides new strategies and ideas for strengthening sustainable agriculture, food security, environmental protection, and mitigating the impact of climate change.

Maize is the fastest-growing cereal in the world and serves as the most significant component of the global coarse grain trade. Interestingly, in addition to being a prime nutritional source, maize also has a variety of industrial applications. However, the crop is highly sensitive to various biotic and abiotic stresses, negatively affecting maize production worldwide. Thus, enhancing maize productivity is the central thrust area in maize breeding in the era of changing climate. The development and deployment of hybrids resistant or tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses through genetic options is the most economical, sustainable and eco-friendly way to mitigate stress-mediated yield losses. Several breeding strategies are being employed to bring about the desired improvement in stress tolerance levels. With the advent of DNA markers, marker-assisted selection supplemented conventional breeding. However, marker-assisted introgression breeding has failed to significantly contribute to the improvement of quantitative traits in maize. Recently, genomic selection emerged as a potential breeding approach to deal with complex stress tolerance traits. Genomic selection (GS) or genomic prediction, which merges all the genome-wide marker information into a model to estimate the genetic worth of candidates for selection, appears to be very practical in biotic and abiotic stress tolerance maize breeding. Here, we summarize the genomic selection efforts in maize breeding to deal with various abiotic and biotic stresses.KeywordsAbiotic stressesBiotic stressesClimate changeGenomic selectionGenomic predictionMaize