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  • The Environment
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Intensification for the nine billion

Nature Biotechnology volume 17, pages BV33–BV34 (1999)Cite this article

As the millennium approaches, the world faces a choice between a sustainable future, with food and economic opportunity available for the majority, and a future of scarcity, with survival seriously compromised for most people.

The challenges to creating a sustainable future are familiar. Population growth places heightened demand on natural resources. Climate change is of growing concern. Far from subsiding, civil strife is on the rise1. Food security at a global level seems reasonably well in hand, yet in some regions and countries, food security in the next century cannot be taken for granted.

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Figure 1: Higher productivity technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. director general, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Lisboa 27, Colonia Juarez, Apdo Postal 6-641, Mexico DF, 06600, Mexico

    Timothy G. Reeves

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  1. Timothy G. Reeves
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Reeves, T. Intensification for the nine billion. Nat Biotechnol 17 (Suppl 2), BV33–BV34 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/7174

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