Plz can someone give me important notes related to population and food security..... urgently..
Answers
Does population growth affect food production? Does this effect vary across regions? Scholars have proposed food insecurity as one of the threats that society will endure during this century. Global population has grown exponentially. Current numbers are estimated around 6,692,030,277(World Bank, 2009) and are expected to rise 9.3 billion in 2050. The world’s population will double in the next 50 years, if the current growth rate of 1.3 percent continues (Kendall and Pimentel 1994:198). However, world cereal yields and agriculture production have declined since 1961 (Harris and Kennedy, 1999). According to FAO, per capita food production declined in 51 developing countries, while rising in only 43 between 1979 and 1987 (Sadik, 1991).
This study examines the relationship between agriculture growth and population growth rates in countries around the world. In particular, this paper seeks to identify the difference in the relationship between population growth and agricultural growth among the following regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and Oceania. The paper begins by reviewing the current literature relevant to the Malthusian theory of scarcity and agriculture production. It continues by developing a theoretical framework in which I suggest that population growth is increasing at a higher rate than agriculture production. I test this hypothesis by analyzing agriculture production, population growth and economic development data from all countries from 1981 to 2008. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results of the regression on agriculture production and a summary of future research needs.
Food Insecurity
Magadoff and Tokar (2009) concluded that 12% of the global population –approximately 36 million people- suffer from hunger and live without secure access of food. Decreased food production in less developed countries, increases in the price of food, and growing production of bio-fuels are responsible for current rates of food scarcity. Global warming, crop diversity loss and urban sprawl also affect agriculture production. Kendall and Pimentel(1994) note that current per capita grain production seems to be decreasing worldwide. The situation is particularly distressing in Africa, where grain production is down 12% since 1980. Africa only produces 80% of what it consumes (Kendall and Pimentel, 1994:199)
For most countries, population growth rate is approximately 2-3% a year, which should translate to an annual increase of 3-5% in agriculture production levels. (Kendall and Pimentel, 1994: 202) Kendall and Pimentel designed three models to predict crop levels by 2050. They concluded that if production continues at its current rate, per capita crop production will decline by 2050. The possibility of tripling today’s current crop production is unrealistic (Kendall and Pimentel, 1994).
Food insecurity has the potential for worsening far beyond anyone’s expectations. Have we finally reached Earth’s carrying capacity? Scholars’ opinions vary depending on their perspective. While Neo-Malthusian scholars such as Paul Elhrich(2009) believe that the only way to avoid this catastrophe is by restraining population growth, others such as Rusell Hopfenberg(2003) assert that we must curb food production to limit population growth.
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