Reclaiming lost traits: research and policy pathways for climate-resilient agriculture
Abdelbagi M. Ismail: Regional Director for Africa, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), C/O ILRI, Nevasha Rd, Nairobi 30709, Kenya
Dr. Abdelbagi M. Ismail explores how scientific innovations, strategic partnerships, and policy reforms, led by organizations like the International Rice Research Institute, are crucial for achieving sustainable food security in Africa and globally amid mounting environmental and population pressures.
Published on July 9th, 2025
Securing sufficient food for the steadily growing human population is becoming increasingly challenging due to the current decline in natural resources and the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation. Historically, traditional plant breeding has significantly contributed to food security in many countries, with yields of most crops gradually increasing through a steady stream of progressively higher-yielding varieties. This progress, coupled with proper management—including the use of agrochemicals, creating a secured water supply through irrigation, applying mechanization, and improving value chains—has led to continuous productivity gains (1). Despite these efforts, incidents of food shortages and the proportion of hungry people continue to rise in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (2).
To mount a more effective response and mitigate the growing food crisis, greater emphasis must be placed on partnerships and strategic interventions that can drive meaningful change. For example, the research and policy support provided by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are crucial in developing innovative solutions to agricultural and food security challenges. Among IRRI’s initiatives, a point of focus has been the development of high-yielding, climate-resilient rice varieties that are tolerant to salinity (3), flooding (4), and drought (5). A notable example is the success of salt-tolerant rice varieties in Bangladesh, which have enabled farmers in coastal areas affected by saltwater intrusion to sustain productivity (6). IRRI’s other initiatives aim to modernize agronomic practices and delivery mechanisms, including digital platforms for outreach, improving water management, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and promoting sustainable farming practices through proper management of soil health and solid wastes. By catalyzing policy reforms that introduce supportive and empowering policies that speed up the adoption of these innovations and streamline value chains for farming communities to prosper, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, IRRI helps enhance food security and environmental health in regions where rice is a staple food.
Contribution of the Green Revolution to food security
The first significant leap in food production is largely credited to the Green Revolution (GR), which was introduced in the 1960s and 1970s for rice and wheat production. IRRI led developments such as the IR8 rice variety, often referred to as “Miracle Rice,” which was photoperiod-insensitive and had a shorter average growing duration, allowing for multiple crops per year. A similar impact was observed for maize, leading to the introduction of commercial hybrid varieties (7). These new varieties responded well to inputs and provided farmers with higher yields compared to the pre-GR era (8), when productivity gains mainly resulted from expanding farmland. Even so, only favorable irrigated and rainfed areas significantly benefited from these varieties.
Over time, early GR varieties have been replaced by more resilient ones, which incorporate genes that are tolerant to predominant abiotic stresses and resistant to prevailing pests and diseases, although with limited improvements in yield (9). These stress-tolerant rice varieties have shown good promise in increasing and stabilizing productivity in less favorable areas of South and Southeast Asia and, more recently, sub-Saharan Africa, which has not experienced the benefits of the GR, highlighting the untapped potential of areas previously overlooked for food production.
To address the challenges posed by climate change, efforts must focus on breeding more resilient varieties. This includes reinstating genes lost during domestication and the GR that are essential for adaptation, as well as pursuing the de novo domestication of ancestors and wild relatives of staple crops. These strategies are explored by Palmgren and Shabala in their Frontiers in Science lead article (10).
Equally important is the active promotion and adoption of these new varieties to ensure that farmers benefit from scientific advancements. Through aligning and working closely with relevant partners and governments, IRRI plays a vital role in this process by facilitating access to and adoption of improved rice varieties worldwide.
Reintroducing adaptive traits and genes lost to domestication
At IRRI, breeding programs integrate consumer and market preferences with adaptation goals, emphasizing the recovery of essential genes lost during domestication. IRRI’s genebank, rich in landraces and wild relatives, serves as a valuable source for identifying relevant genes. The goal is to develop varieties that yield well, have improved nutritional quality, and tolerate biotic and abiotic stresses—especially in currently marginal or deteriorating environments.
Innovative approaches such as molecular breeding, precision phenotyping, and speed breeding are being employed to accelerate genetic gains. Genetic engineering (11) and genome editing (12) are also being pursued to improve nutritional outcomes. Advanced breeding lines and varieties are shared with national partners for locally guided selection and commercialization, with stakeholder engagement along the value chain (e.g., farmers, millers, and traders). Delivery of variety is supported by seed system models tailored to local capacities. However, despite this progress—largely due to a small number of major abiotic stress tolerance genes—more effort is needed to meet the dual challenge of worsening environmental conditions and growing food demand.
Hastening domestication
De novo domestication offers a transformative pathway by disabling or removing “wild” traits from landraces and wild ancestors to develop resilient, high-yielding varieties with enhanced nutritional value. Though still underutilized in rice breeding, this approach is becoming more feasible thanks to advances in gene targeting (13), shorter breeding cycles (14), and precision phenotyping. The identification of a few conserved genes whose suppression improves yield across species (15) further supports the potential of this approach.
Genome editing now brings the de novo domestication of wild rice within reach. Many native rice landraces, still grown by smallholders for their adaptability and culinary qualities, have low yields. Several wild relatives thrive in conditions unsuitable for modern varieties—such as highly saline or drought-prone areas—and may be better suited for further domestication without sacrificing resilience (10). The availability of genomic resources across Asian rice (Oryza sativa) subspecies (indica, japonica, and aus), African rice (Oryza glaberrima), and wild relatives is enhancing our ability to identify and modify key domestication genes.
Increasing the impact of these innovations will require supportive policies and regulatory frameworks for gene-edited and genetically engineered materials (15) to help unlock the potential of these resources for sustainable food production. The IRRI collaborates closely with partners to shape enabling policy frameworks by refining standards for testing, release, and commercialization of new varieties, aiming to shorten the time needed to reach farmers. Engaging private sector partners across the value chain is also critical and is actively being promoted by IRRI and its partners.
Conclusion
Achieving food security in the face of climate adversity requires a multifaceted approach—an environment of cutting-edge scientific innovations, supportive policies, and public advocacy—to shift perceptions about advanced breeding tools. Together, these efforts can accelerate breeding progress and help close the gap between global food demand and supply, especially for rice and other staples critical to the growing population.
For policymakers, aligning national and regional agricultural strategies with the research and recommendations of organizations like IRRI can yield more resilient and productive food systems. Essential policy directions include investing in agricultural research and development, tackling bottlenecks in the adoption of innovations and marketing of products, supporting sustainable farming practices, promoting education and training for farmers, researchers, and extensionists, and encouraging digital outreach. By fostering collaboration among governments, research institutions, and local communities, these strategies can enhance food security and ensure a sustainable future for all.
Copyright statement
Copyright: © 2025 [author(s)]. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in Frontiers Policy Labs is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Generative AI statement
The author declares that no generative AI was used in the creation of this article.
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