viiPreface
Agriculture provides the basic life requirements for the society, drives economic
development and contributes to poverty reduction particularly in the developing
world. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of eradicating hunger
and poverty, growth in the agricultural sector is essential with the projected dou-
bling of food production needed over the next two to three decades.
The drylands, covering more than 40 % of the world’s landmass, may be ideal
sites to achieve this targeted growth in food production. However climate change is
threatening global food production systems, and the situation is predicted to worsen.
Changes in climate patterns have affected the people living in the drylands the most
as they largely depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. It follows that research
and development innovations in dryland agriculture will provide resilience to
climate- related shifts in these areas.
Despite the topographical and climatic constraints in dry areas, subsistence food
production remains a predominant activity for the majority of the people living in
these areas. This strong evidence together with the holistic and integrative
approaches to ecosystem sustainability suggests that the concerns about land degra-
dation, biodiversity loss and fading cultural colours of 2.5 billion people can be
confronted with renewed optimism.
Although many publications on issues, challenges and pragmatic options to
improve the productivity and sustainability of dryland agriculture are available, no
single book provides a holistic view and recent innovations in this critical area of
agriculture. With increasing global concern and interest in dryland agriculture, we
felt it timely to assemble and synthesize the latest developments and innovations in
dryland agricultural research and development. This book covers the basic concepts
and history, components and elements, breeding and modelling efforts and potential
benefits, experiences, challenges and innovations relevant to agriculture in dryland