One case study is the Water Efficient Maize for Africa  programme, a public-private partnership that transplants a cold shock protein B, known as Droughtgard, into maize in order to mitigate yield losses from drought. Proponents suggest that this GM venture, which will be distributed free to smallholder farmers, represents the best strategy for ensuring stable yields in the face of climatic change across Africa . Critics argue that WEMA maize is not a good fit with the smallholder farming systems it is designed to benefit, with particular concerns around how farmers will access the extra inputs, credit and labour that WEMA maize requires to be successful . Emergent genome-edited crops are considered a more precise, accessible and accelerated means of targeting stressors that matter to poor farmers, but evidence is limited . A more iterative and flexible adaptation approach beyond just genomic improvement to tackle the multiplicity of factors limiting smallholder production is anticipated to increase the likelihood that these promising technologies can enhance food security and nutrition  . To address food security and nutrition, future breeding needs to move from just enhancing agronomic traits of a single crop to improving multiple traits of multiple crops suited to local conditions that will increase climate resilience of farming systems. To make breeding technologies scale-neutral, the policy structure needs to support and protect smallholders .
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report