Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a nutty flavored, starch-tuber perennial woody shrub originated from tropical America belongs to Euphorbiaceae family of plants. After rice and maize, it is considered as the third largest source of carbohydrate food in the tropics and its sweet, chewy underground tuber is one of the popular edible root-vegetables. It is ranked as a 21st century crop, as it acknowledges to the universal economy trends and climatic changes. Currently, use of cassava leaves as a potential source of protein, vitamins and minerals was reviewed. The effect of malnutrition on health and development of people and its control by using cassava leaves as a protein rich source were briefly discussed. Cascade use of cassava leaves, in industrial applications like natural filler for potential reinforcement of polypropylene based composites was also presented. Although, cassava leaves are vital source of essential nutrients, their anti-nutrients and cyanogenic glucosides content limits their consumption, which can be overcome by the development of an efficient, simple and low-cost processing methods for protein extraction from cassava leaves. There are supporting evidences for efficacy of cassava leaf protein in reducing the effect of malnutrition by the intake of protein rich cassava leaves, fortified with various common food items. So consumption of cassava leaves enriched with high protein, vitamin and mineral contents with the development of suitable processing technology to remove anti-nutrients can be an alternative source to meet the global protein demand.

Continuous increase in world’s population demands high food production, which has become a major challenge to the humanity. When there is sufficient amount of nutritious food to all the people there will be no problem of food scarcity. So, to increase the food production, many countries are adopting strategies of genetic engineering to enhance the crop yield. Recombinant DNA technology can be a viable source to develop genetically modified crops with enhanced resistance and improved yields to fight against malnutrition and food scarcity. With this technology, selected traits can be inserted into the plant genome, unlike traditional plant breeding, where many characters of two different crops will be combined which may lead to genetic modification at an extensive level. Present review focuses on the methods of plant transformation and outlines the scope of genetic transformation for improved crop production by transferring selected genes for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. In addition, current study also provides information about various genetically modified crops produced worldwide and their commercialization towards various biotechnological products like GM livestock, GM microorganisms, vaccines and industrial products like bio-plastic produced from the transgenic plants.

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It is important to highlight that agriculture is one of the sectors that will be directly affected by climate change scenarios in recent years. There are a number of processes such as drought, floods, temperature, salinity etc along with other forms of biotic factors posing significant impacts on crop yields of various crops due to their fluctuating scenario in the environment. Espousal of smart technologies and practices like smart crop and variety selection, efficient climate-based cropping system, agricultural water management (AWM), balanced fertilization, contingency planning, recarbonization of soils, no-till system, integrated farming system, site specific nutrient management etc are being advised to exercise in many regions for climate-resistant agriculture. These approaches minimize soil disruption and energy usages, enhance soil health and alleviate greenhouse gas discharges, minimize unproductive losses and improve efficiency of land and water use result in greater crop production with reduced fertilizer usage. As a part of this strategy, weather stations and mini-weather lookouts are set up at the village stage to register relevant weather observations like temperature, rainfall, wind speed and relative humidity etc to furnish customized agro-advisories to farmers, which reduce detrimental consequences attributed to the climate. A climate smart approach integrates farmer’s practices with related technologies, plans, institutes, policies and financial packages. So, initiating the choice of site-specific crops, development of customized technologies and tools, diversification of crops, improvement of climate-resistant crop varieties, syndication of forecasting tools and proper management of resources at the community level can effectively enhance climate resilience in agriculture.