Climate Resilience in Horticulture: Future-Ready Horti-farming

Climate change is a concerning issue that has manifested as a significant threat to horticulture, disrupting productivity and resilience through rising temperatures, weather extremes, erratic rainfall, and shifting pest and disease patterns. With increasing climate variability across regions such as South and Southeast Asia, including India, traditional open-field farming is becoming increasingly vulnerable and particularly concerning, given rapid population growth and declining cultivable land. As a result, ensuring food security demands a strategic shift toward more climate-resilient and sustainable farming practices. Crucial adaptive strategies like the development of stress-tolerant crop varieties, improved irrigation efficiency, integrated nutrient and pest management, and the adoption of smart farming tools like remote sensing, AI in decision-making, and Internet of Things (IoT) have to be tried in a nation like India, emerging toward a better economy. The integration of traditional knowledge with modern innovations, including genomics, phenotyping, and decision-support systems, is a necessary pathway to enhance adaptability and productivity under changing climatic conditions. This chapter presents a detailed evaluation of climate resilience in horticulture, highlighting the integration of indigenous knowledge with advanced technologies such as protected cultivation, digital farming, and the use of renewable resources, while also drawing attention to the socioeconomic and policy dimensions essential for widespread adoption. The chapter also addresses the role of agro-biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and policy interventions in building robust and sustainable horticultural systems. Climate-resilient horticulture practices offer a viable solution to ensure food security for the growing population, economic stability, reduce drudgery, enhance farmers’ livelihoods, and support environmental sustainability and ecological well-being in a changing climate.