Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world’s population. In South Asia, rice farming systems provide food to the majority of the population, and agriculture is a primary source of livelihood. With the demand for nutritious food increasing, introducing innovative strategies in farming systems is imperative. In this regard, intensification of rice farming is intricately linked with the challenges of water scarcity, soil degradation, and the vagaries of climate change. Agroecological farming systems like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) have been proposed as water-saving and sustainable ways of food production. This study examines the effect of intercropping beans with rice under SRI management on the growth of weeds and on the different plant growth parameters. Intercropping led to a 65% decrease in weed infestation on average, which is important given that weed infestation is stated as a criticism of SRI in some circles and is a major factor in limiting yield in rice-producing regions. In addition to the water savings of about 40% due to the SRI methodology, the innovation led to an increase in rice yield by 33% and an increase in the net income of farmers by 57% compared to the conventional rice farming method. The results indicate that intercropping can be a positive addition to the rice farming system, hence contributing to social–ecological sustainability.

The discrepancies in our food systems have become more pronounced in the last couple of years due to natural disasters of huge magnitude and the current pandemic, that have served to make them visible to a wider range of population. As a result, a shift to agroecological food and farming systems is currently being advocated at different levels. An agroecological approach to food systems involves consideration of all their interactions with the major challenges of our time—food security, water scarcity, climate change, socioeconomic disparity. This paper presents a bibliometric study of peer reviewed literature about the role of agroecology in relation to either or all of these challenges, published between 1990 and 2020. 1990 was the year in which IPCC published its first assessment report that set into motion many framework agreements and protocols regarding climate change. In 2019 and 2020, IPBES and iPES-Food released separate reports advocating an urgent agricultural transition based on agroecological methodologies. There has been an exponential increase in the published research in this field in this time period, whereas an overwhelming majority of the publications were filed under the subject areas of agricultural and biological sciences, environmental sciences, and social sciences. In addition to the increasing acceptance of the role of agroecology to address the challenges of our times, the results of this analysis point to the cross-cutting nature of issues agroecology caters to.