Plantation crops are diverse species such as coconut, arecanut, coffee, tea, palmyrah, rubber, oil palm, and cashew, which significantly contribute to the economic well-being of people across tropical regions of the world. These crops constitute an important component of the agricultural economic ecosystem, second only to grasses and legumes.

Climate change has emerged as a significant threat to global agriculture, with plantation crops such as tea, coffee, cocoa, coconut, oil palm, cashew and rubber being particularly vulnerable due to their perennial nature and sensitivity to climatic variables. These crops play a crucial role in the economies of many tropical and subtropical countries and support the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers.

The effects of climate change on palm crops are evident through elevated temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, sea level rise, cyclones, and flooding. Since the 1980s, temperatures have been increasing and rainfall decreasing significantly, in line with global warming—especially in high ranges, followed by lowlands and coastal areas where coconut and arecanut are predominantly grown, often with cocoa as an understory crop.

Climate change poses a serious threat to global coffee production, particularly affecting the widely cultivated Arabica and Robusta species. Climate change also brings significant socioeconomic impacts. Many coffee farmers, particularly smallholders in developing countries, lack the resources and technical knowledge to adapt to changing climatic conditions.

Being perennials, plantation crops are more severely affected by climate change than annuals or biennials. As a result, corrective measures for mitigating its negative impacts require long-term approaches and demand entirely different strategies.

In this context, our lab has focused on key research questions addressing the projected effects of climate change on the distribution of coconut and arecanut, the impacts of elevated CO₂ and temperature on pollen biology and the progamic phase of coconut, and water deficit stress in coconut, arecanut, and cocoa, among others.

Therefore, this special section entitled “Impact of Climate Change on Plantation Crops” focuses on the following topics of interest but limited to:

· Climate change projections in plantation crops and other perennials – species distribution modeling
· Effects of elevated CO₂, increased temperatures, salinity stress, water deficit stress, and their interactions in plantation crops
· Adaptation strategies for plantation crops to counter the impacts of climate change
· Identification of germplasm/genotypes conferring tolerance or resistance
· Molecular dissection of abiotic and biotic stresses in plantation crops: markers forclimate resilient genotypes
· Effect of climate change on pests and disease dynamics in plantation crops
· Data base or resources for climate resilient plantation crops
· Economics of climate resilient agriculture in plantation sector
· Economic models and forecasting etc

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Impact of Climate change on Plantation Crops