To sustain global food security under the growing pressures of population expansion, economic development, and climate change, agricultural productivity must be enhanced through sustainable and innovative approaches. Genetic crop improvement integrating advances in molecular biology, biotechnology, genomics and plant physiology offers a powerful means to achieve this goal. However, the development of superior crop varieties often encounters the challenge of trait trade-offs, where the expression of one desirable characteristic can compromise another. In this context, microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level, have emerged as precise and versatile molecular tools. Since their discovery in Caenorhabditis elegans in 1993, miRNAs have been recognized as master regulators influencing plant development, signal transduction, stress tolerance and disease resistance. Their ability to fine-tune gene expression without permanently altering genomic sequences makes them valuable targets for molecular breeding strategies aimed at achieving high yield, resilience and sustainability in crops.