Climate-resilient vegetables for prosperity and sustainability

Abstract

Vegetables are universally promoted for ensuring healthy food with critical nutrients (dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals, high amount of antioxidants, and for a balanced diet. Vegetable cultivation is greatly affected by drought, high temperature, floods and unseasonal rainfall as well as use of chemicals. Due to climate change, expanding range of known pests, and diseases, and the emergence of new pests and pathogens in areas previously unknown are the significant hurdles to production. India is the major producer of major vegetables and several important minor vegetables. Besides common green leafy vegetables (spinach beat, amaranth, fenugreek and coriander), there are large number of unexplored leafy vegetables like Indian spinach, chenopodium, water spinach and lotus which are available seasonally. Similarly, many tree vegetables like drumstick, jack fruit and lassora besides bush plant like curry leaf are well suited to rainfed environment.