Sustainable Intensification: Meaning, Need, Components, and Role of Root Systems

Current food production would need to increase by about 60% to meet the needs and demands of 9.5 billion people by 2050, and sustainable intensification is going to play a crucial role in meeting that challenge. Feeding an increasing world population will have to rely on sustainable intensification of food production on a diminishing land area and with declining water and nutrient resources available to agriculture. The focus of sustainable intensification is to increase food production per unit area per unit time while minimizing the negative impact on the environment and natural resources. Sustainable intensification uses multidisciplinary approaches to address food and nutritional security and enhance the resilience of global food production systems. It comprises genetic, agroecological, and socioeconomic components. It requires efficiency and substitution but ultimately involves redesigning agro-ecosystems. We discuss the role of roots in enhancing water- and nutrient-use efficiency and cycling and improving tolerance to abiotic stresses (e.g. drought, salinity, and low nutrients) as the crucial pillars of sustainable intensification in a range of agro-ecosystems (such as intercropping, agroforestry, crop rotations, perennial crops, and conservation agriculture).