Revolutionizing food security: The transformative role of fungi in the 21st century

Abstract

With increasing global population density and climate change, the sustainability of food production poses new challenges. These are factors such as food inflation, climate change, natural disasters, and diseases affecting crops among others. Consequently, fungi have evolved as a pillar of ecological agriculture in the twenty-first century. Some of the diverse applications of fungi include biological control, synthesis of antifungal compounds, symbiotic relationship with plants, and enhancement of soil structure. They also function as decomposers in ensuring nutrient availability in the soil, and as biostimulants to enhance plants’ growth, plant disease management and enhanced resistance to abiotic stressors such as water scarcity, and salinity and mitigate the impact of climate change. Furthermore, fungi play other important roles in food security, such as in the processing of various foods including cheese, bread, fermented products and other sources of protein, vitamins, and dietary fiber, while foods of fungi origin prevent lifestyle diseases. New approaches in fungal biotechnology present the hope of eliminating hunger and malnutrition through food production, preservation, and packaging among others. Although, challenges persist in the management of pathogenic fungi in agriculture, however, it is important to leverage the beneficial role of fungi and encourage further exploration of its transformative potential towards a secured global food security.

Keywords

• biofortification
• biotechnology
• global food security
• fungi-based products
• symbiotic relationships
• soil fertility
• mycorrhizae