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possibly through genetic engineering. Varieties with improved
tolerance to heat or drought, or adapted to take advantage of a
longer-growing season for increased yield, will be available for
some crop species.
Another emergent strategy to support agricultural produc-
tivity under changing climatic conditions is the application
of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is new to agriculture, a
developing field of less than a decade old. It is considered as
an enabling technology by which the existing materials, virtu-
ally all man-made materials and systems, can acquire different
properties rendering them suitable for numerous novel applica-
tions. Nanotechnology holds the potential to revolutionise agri-
culture and food systems. Success has already been achieved
for manufacturing nano-pesticides, nano-fertiliser and many
other nano-products for increasing the growth and productivity
of crops in adverse climatic conditions. Therefore, the possibili-
ties of applying nanotechnology to solve the problems of agri-
culture with respect to its vulnerability to changing climatic
conditions should be worth exploring.
5.4 Genetic engineering as a possible alternative
Increasing CO 2 , global mean temperatures, varying rainfall pat-
terns and frequent weather changes are occurring due to climate
change. Such factors place a direct impact on the health and well-
being of crops, thereby affecting small landholders, subsistence
agriculture and food security in the developing world (Howden
et  al., 2007). Crop modelling shows that climate change will
likely reduce agricultural production, thus reducing food avail-
ability (Lobell and Field, 2007) and affecting food security. Plant
breeding, appropriate crop husbandry, sound natural resource
management and agricultural policy interventions will be needed
to ensure food availability and reduce poverty in a world affected
by climate change (Howden et  al., 2007). Persistent efforts in
various research fields have been going on to develop new cul-
tivars that can respond to environments with abiotic stresses
(Bhatnagar-Mathur et al., 2008). Abiotic stresses aggravated by
climate change pose a serious threat to the sustainability of crop
yields and account for substantial yield losses. Scientific knowl-
edge of the processes of abiotic stress tolerance in crops con-
tinues to develop and guides conventional breeding and genetic
engineering of new crop cultivars. The modern tools of cell and
molecular biology have shed light on control mechanisms for
abiotic stress tolerance, and for engineering stress-tolerant crops
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