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Figure 1. 

Conceptual framework illustrating why effective water management outweighs genetic drought tolerance in reducing agricultural drought impacts. The left panel shows global drought-induced crop yield losses, emphasizing that under extreme water scarcity, even drought-tolerant crops cannot maintain productivity without water interventions. The central panel outlines key water management strategies—including efficient irrigation, infrastructure development, rainwater harvesting, and soil moisture conservation—that directly reduce drought impacts and create conditions where genetic improvements can be effective. The right panel depicts drought-tolerant crops benefiting from improved water availability. The top graph shows the relationship between drought severity and yield loss, highlighting that while genetic drought tolerance can reduce losses (e.g., by 7.5 g·m⁻²·year⁻¹ for maize) under mild to moderate drought conditions^[12], effective water management is necessary to sustain yields under severe drought.