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Breeding drought-resistant crop varieties has become a priority for agricultural researchers as rainfall patterns grow less predictable in many farming regions. Rather than relying solely on genetic modification, many programmes now use marker-assisted selection, a technique that identifies naturally occurring genetic traits linked to water efficiency and speeds up conventional cross-breeding. This approach has produced drought-tolerant varieties of maize and sorghum that yield reasonably well even during dry spells, without requiring regulatory approval processes associated with genetically modified organisms in many countries. Critics note, however, that marker-assisted varieties still require adequate soil nutrients to perform well, meaning drought tolerance alone cannot compensate for poor farming conditions.