Wheat in Asia – Trends, Challenges and Research Priorities

Wheat being a nutri-rich grain has a significant role in ensuring food and nutritional security for establishing zero hunger as committed under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The importance of wheat in Asia’s food basket and nutrition is clearly depicted through a significant increase in area under the crop and a major quantum jump in its production in the past few decades. Nevertheless, the crop’s increasing demand due to thriving population accompanied with production threats aggravated by climate change poses a serious challenge for the researchers and policy-makers. Asia is regarded as the major region having a tremendous potential to enhance the production and productivity of the wheat crop. There has been an increasing consumption demand in Asia due to expansion in population and economic growth so much so that the importing countries in Asia have outnumbered the exporting countries. This calls for preparedness for a robust international trade. In order to acquaint with the existing scenario of wheat in Asia, trends in area, production, productivity and trade have been analysed in this chapter. The chapter also underlines the various constraints and challenges in Asian wheat production coupled with the priority area of research in order to improve the efficiency and sustainability across production system