Technology-integrated intercropping for optimizing crop yield and sustainability in Pakistan

Intercropping is an effective practice for enhancing crop productivity, resource efficiency, and pest control, yet its full potential in Pakistan and other developing countries remains underutilized. This review emphasizes how modern technologies—such as precision agriculture, remote sensing, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced sensing tools—can strengthen intercropping systems by improving resource management, pest and weed control, and crop monitoring. Technologies such as UAVs, GPS/GIS, variable-rate applications, and AI-driven decision-support systems enable farmers to manage field variability, optimize water and nutrient use, and more accurately predict pest outbreaks. AI also supports climate-smart agriculture by forecasting weather, enhancing crop resilience, and increasing global food security. Despite these benefits, adoption of these technologies faces challenges including high costs, limited technical skills, data processing issues, privacy concerns, and energy demands of big data systems. This review highlights key research gaps, especially the limited integration of precision agriculture with IPM and intercropping, and stresses the need for affordable, scalable, and farmer-friendly technological solutions. Overall, combining intercropping with emerging technologies offers a promising path toward sustainable, resilient, and productive agriculture in Pakistan and similar regions.