Scientists have called for a fundamental shift in global crop development, arguing that future breeding programmes must simultaneously improve crop yields, nutritional quality and resilience to climate change if the world is to overcome hunger and malnutrition.
The appeal comes from an international team of researchers whose findings were published in the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology and accompanied by a complementary paper in Nature. The studies, involving scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Ghent University and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, present what researchers describe as a new blueprint for crop improvement capable of addressing the interconnected challenges of food insecurity, hidden hunger and climate change.
According to the researchers, conventional crop breeding has largely pursued three objectives independently—increasing yields, enhancing nutritional content or improving tolerance to environmental stresses such as drought and heat.
While these efforts have produced significant gains over the past decades, they argue that tackling today’s food systems challenges requires integrating all three goals into a single breeding strategy.
Despite remarkable increases in agricultural productivity worldwide, more than 700 million people remain undernourished, while over two billion suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals, a condition commonly known as hidden hunger.
Climate change is further compounding the problem by reducing crop productivity, increasing weather-related risks and, in some cases, diminishing the nutritional quality of staple foods.
The Journal of Integrative Plant Biology paper, titled Reconfiguring Biofortification Strategies to Transform Food Systems and Address Micronutrient Deficiency of the 21st Century, argues that biofortification—the process of increasing the nutritional value of crops—should evolve beyond targeting individual nutrients.
Instead, researchers propose combining advances in genetics, breeding and food systems to develop crops that deliver multiple nutritional benefits while maintaining high productivity and resilience under changing climatic conditions.
The authors say emerging technologies, including genomic selection, gene editing and advanced breeding techniques, provide unprecedented opportunities to accelerate the development of crops capable of meeting these multiple objectives simultaneously.
However, they stress that scientific innovation must be supported by coordinated investments, enabling policies and stronger collaboration among breeders, nutrition experts, agronomists and policymakers.
IRRI Director General Dr. Yvonne Pinto said the growing pressures of climate change, declining agricultural productivity and persistent micronutrient deficiencies can no longer be addressed separately.
“The triple burden of climate change, declining productivity and hidden hunger cannot be addressed in isolation,” Pinto said. “Crop improvement is no longer about optimizing one trait at a time or choosing between productivity, nutrition and resilience. It is about integrating all three to develop crops that deliver for farmers, consumers and the planet.”
Lead authors of the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology paper, Rhowell N. Tiozon Jr., Alisdair R. Fernie and Nese Sreenivasulu, says transforming global food systems will require rethinking crop improvement strategies to prioritise nutrition alongside productivity and climate adaptation.
They argue that such an integrated approach could play a crucial role in reducing micronutrient deficiencies, strengthening food security and building more resilient agricultural systems in the face of accelerating climate change.
