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In a setting in which efforts continue to be focused on boosting agricultural production, could new agricultural practices ensure erosion control, soil fertility preservation or restoration, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, nutrient recycling and pest control as the model based on intensive and massive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, water and fossil fuels is called into question? Ecological intensification—an alternative model whereby agricultural practices are reassessed with the aim of enhancing the use of natural ecosystem processes and functions—addresses this challenge!

To be able to invent such novel agricultural systems, we must thoroughly appraise our production strategies, focus specifically on environmental issues, gain greater insight into the physicochemical and biological mechanisms involved, and then integrate all of these aspects into a unit that works. The “black box” of living resources, whose complexity seems to be growing, first has to be analysed. This will enable us to gain greater insight into basic biological processes of plants (genome function, organ development, etc.) and ecosystem function (function of complex plant communities, sustainability of production systems, better use of natural resources, exploitation of useful species). Breeding new plant material that is higher yielding, disease resistantand adapted to different local ecosystems is still a key goal, while making effective use of the incredible currently known range of diversity. However, this is not enough, so production systems that are tightly meshed with natural ecological processes affecting agrosystems should also be designed, while analysing socioeconomic processes that promote or hamper the adoption of these new practices.

Ecological intensification spans many aspects of CIRAD’s activities and areas of expertise. This includes the Centre’s involvement in large international networks of stakeholders striving to achieve excellence. In 2008, CIRAD organized the first international conference of the ENDURE network, which is focused on designing innovative crop protection systems in line with sustainable development. Moreover, to achieve ecological intensification, genetic knowledge obtained on model species should be more efficiently used in order to be able to extend this knowledge to other less studied species. Modelling, which is an incredible tool for examining the complexity of living resources, is also clearly essential.

The quality of all results obtained by CIRAD—breeding new varieties, inventing new disease and pest control techniques, or designing sustainable production systems that require fewer inputs and are environmentally friendlier—depends on the exceptionally devoted involvement of its agents and on the close ties that have been gradually bound between CIRAD and its partners in both developed and developing countries