Feeding the Hungry Billions

There is a population boom worldwide and natural resources are decreasing fast. With an additional 40 million persons to the world population trends, indicates alarming food situations likely to grow worse by the passage of time.

The gap between demand and supply of food grains is increasing fast with developing countries worst affected. The assumption of food grains has out paced the production. The availability of cultivated and irrigated land is also decreasing, the greater use of chemical use of fertilizer, pesticides etc. has destroyed the health of the land.

Even if there is surplus food grain in a few countries the lack of entitlement because of appalling poverty in many other countries will make it difficult for them to have adequate food supplies.

The world population growth shows an alarming trend in relation to world food production. About 250, 000 new mouths to feed are being added every day while the agricultural production and natural resources required to feed them are decreasing fast.

It is estimated that about 3000 sq. meters of forest land 1000 tones of top soil are being lost every second.

The world population in 1994 was 5.6 billion, which is likely to grow to 8.4 billion 2025. Thus, about 90 million new mouths are being added to the world population every year. 95 percent of the new borns are in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and South America.

The food security is in danger, slums, cities and towns are increasing by leaps and bounds. The urban population has been increasing dangerously which will grow from present 1.6 billion to nearly 4 billion by the year 2025 the world over.

Now, today’s 400 million or so subsistence farmers of the world find it difficult to feed the 1.6 billion of urban population. What shall happen in 2025 when the urban population will swell into 4 billion? How shall than the 800 million farmers of the world cope with the situation? Only the time will tell. Will the Malthusian theory prove true or the technological advancement takes the problem into its strides?

The growing imbalance between food production and population is dangerous. There will be incidences of hunger and starvation in the near future if adequate measures are not taken to address the problem of feeding hungry billions of the world.

The diminishing water and land resources and increasing population make the situation hopeless.

The solution of the problem seems to lie in an integrated approach based on better management of resources and increased use of technologies. New technologies should be developed and available technologies used extensively to bridge the gap between potential and actual yields.

Soil erosion and desertification should be effectively checked and the health of the land to be improved. The vast wasteland should be changed into arable land by using modern farm and field technologies and researches. Vast areas of agriculture and forest land are being lost every year because of soil erosion.

As a result of this nearly a billion hectares of land every year becomes unfit for agriculture. Even if there were a surplus of food grain in a few countries, the lack of entitlement because of poverty in other countries will make it difficult for them to have adequate supplies.

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