Global warming will lead to increasing frequency of drought, which sometimes has greater negative impacts on crops than other natural calamities do, speakers at a seminar said yesterday. They called on researchers to develop drought- and flood-tolerant crop varieties, as the people have no alternative but to adapt to changing climate conditions. They also called on the government and development partners to allocate adequate funds for this purpose. The disaster management bureau organised the seminar at LGED auditorium in the city to mark the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Environmental scientist Atiq Rahman was present as the chief guest and Khandakar Rashedul Haque, director general of the department of environment, as special guest. KH Masud Siddiqui, director general of disaster management bureau, presided over the seminar. The speakers said agriculture of a populated country like Bangladesh is threatened by a wide variety of actors -- from natural calamities to conversion of agricultural land into non-agricultural land. Every year around 82,000 hectares of land is being converted into non-agricultural land. Although the agricultural sector is most vulnerable to global climate change, it has the potential to counteract the impacts, they said. They stressed the need to develop drought-resistant varieties of crops in order to fight the increasing frequency of drought and desertification caused by the climate change. The world community has to face the problem together as drought is not a local or regional problem any more during this era of global food crisis, they added.