“UN calls for farming revolution”, BBC, 15/4. There has been much media attention recently on increasing food prices in some (mainly poorer) countries due to various factors. Yet little mention of one major factor: population growth! A letter in today’s The Age:
Population is the crisis
The world’s population has increased threefold during my lifetime, and you are surprised that there is a food shortage? As long ago as 1798, Thomas Malthus warned of the danger of the population increasing faster than the food supply.
Since then the world’s population has increased from 1 billion to 6.5 billion. The projected world population figure for 2050 is more than 10 billion. The crisis isn’t food supply, the crisis is population growth, and sustainability.
– Gordon Cheyne, Armadale
Perhaps food or other aid should come with a caveat that population control methods also be implemented (family planning, providing contraceptives to women).
