Traditional crops gain strategic role in climate-hit food supply

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Traditional crops gain climate role

Highlights

Annual agricultural losses from natural disasters have doubled over three decades, averaging $144bn a year, while extreme weather disruptions increased 250 per cent since 2021.
India’s millet production targets 18mn tonnes for 2025 due to flagship programmes, and black soyabean yields rose 5 per cent through intercropping with finger millet.
Adoption of traditional crops faces barriers from weak financial returns, uncertain yields, and fragmented agricultural knowledge lacking availability in local languages.

Climate risks reshape crop choices

As reported by the Financial Times, rising temperatures and erratic weather patterns are increasing pressure on global food production and strengthening the case for bringing traditional crops back into commercial farming systems.

Annual agricultural losses linked to natural disasters have more than doubled over three decades, reaching an average of $144bn a year in recent years, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Supply chain tracker Resilinc also says disruptions to the agricultural, food and beverage industries from drought-related extreme weather events have risen by 250 per cent since 2021.

Jessica Fanzo, a professor of food and climate at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Italy, says the current food system is not fit for purpose over the next 30 years. She warns that livestock production, as well as maize and soyabean cultivation in Brazil, is becoming harder as climate conditions shift.

Traditional crops, including sorghum, manoomin and jackfruit, are increasingly seen by international bodies such as the European Commission and the FAO as part of the response to feed growing populations under changing climate conditions. Experts say moving away from systems dominated by a narrow set of staple crops could also help slow the spread of pests and crop diseases while supporting more sustainable production.

Farmer incentives and knowledge gaps limit adoption

Interest in reviving these crops is already growing in some markets. In India, a flagship programme promoting traditional millet varieties has helped raise production to 18mn tonnes in 2025, while growers in the Himalayan region have improved returns from black soyabean by linking to Japanese and South Korean restaurant demand.

Parvinder Kumar, founder of Wayfield Agricultural Technology, says traditional crops often carry nutritional, environmental and cultural value, but weak financial returns and uncertain yields discourage farmers from expanding production. He says higher-value specialty markets, intercropping and careful diversification can improve incomes, with black soyabean yields rising by about 5 per cent when planted with finger millet.

Knowledge transfer remains another major barrier. Quinault Childs, former research director of the Food Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future, says many climate-resilient foods are difficult to scale because preparation and cultivation knowledge remains fragmented or unavailable in local languages.

The prickly pear illustrates that challenge and the potential upside. Native to Mexico and long treated as invasive in some arid regions, the crop gained wider attention after the FAO published a 2021 report on its role in restoring soil health and helping prevent famine when other crops fail.

Experts say wider use of traditional crops depends not only on technology but also on preserving and sharing local agricultural knowledge. Without more secure returns and better support systems, farmers are less likely to take the commercial risk of experimenting with crops that could strengthen long-term food resilience.

In our earlier article on Strait of Hormuz shipping disruptions hitting agriculture, we covered how fertilizer and fuel supply problems were starting to reduce harvests and push up operating costs across the food supply chain. We also noted that prolonged uncertainty can change planting decisions—often nudging farmers away from longer-cycle, higher-value crops—while raising the risk of price spikes and food insecurity in import-dependent regions, especially in Asia and Africa.

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