India: Jowar an ideal alternative to wheat in times of increasing temperatures

Last year’s March heatwave in India, coupled with the Russia-Ukraine conflict has raised concerns about the country’s dependence on wheat for its staple cereal needs. Hearwaves in March affected the harvest of this highly vulnerable crop and the international supply chain disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis led to restricted global wheat supplies and price surge. At this time, a new research paper has established that traditionally grown jowar (sorghum) can be an ideal alternative to wheat due to its resilience to climate change. The research paper, titled Climate resilience of dry season cereals in India, is timely and important for India — the world’s second-largest wheat producer — with a whopping 40 per cent increase in production since the early 2000s. However, increasing temperatures have raised concerns about the crop’s sensitivity to heat, leading to a greater water requirement and a higher water footprint. Jowar, on the other hand, is not only far more resilient ...