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Scholarly Essay Sample

HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH: FEEDING 10 BILLION PEOPLE

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As living conditions improve for most people all over the world, the population

continues to grow. Demographers with a finger on the pulse of human progress make

estimates that multiply not only numbers of people that might inhabit Earth in the future, but

also predict their ability to feed themselves, and the problems they are likely to face with

adequate nutrition, disease, control of climactic effects, space management, and natural

disasters.

An attempt is made here to discuss the importance of ‘agroecology’, as described by

Raj Patel in his 2011 article “Can the world feed 10 billion people?” and the author’s

assertion that gender issues and the ability of a country to produce enough, if not more, than

its own population can eat, are related. Apart from effects on the environment and the effects

on the concepts of territoriality, privacy, and personal space that crowding have, the main

consequence Patel envisions for the future is pressure on food production.

The article, which takes Malawi, a very small country in Africa, as an example of how

attitudes towards food production can change an entire economy, demonstrates how peasant

farming is viewed differently by people who depend on it, and by those to whom it represents

poverty. “Today, some 40 per cent of Malawians live below the country's poverty line, and

part of the reason for widespread chronic poverty is that more than 70 per cent of [them] live

in rural areas.” (Patel 2011)

Those who, like Oxford economist Paul Collier, argue the value of large-scale

commercial farming, showing how most developed countries do well without peasant

husbandry, dismiss notions of farming on small family holdings as overly romantic and

impractical (Patel 2011). They assert that first world farming works “most lucratively with

large-scale plantations and operations to which small farmers are little more than an

impediment.” They also do away with poor village situations where lack of space, non-

existence of privacy, and entrenched territorial attitudes are the norm.

Patel’s findings, however, which he bases on studies carried out by the World Bank and

demonstrated in its 2008 World Development Report (Patel 2011), show that to improve

conditions endured by the poorest people of the world, it makes more sense to prevent

migration en masse to work in the cities. Keeping them on their small holdings, and pouring

investment in to improve their lot, works better to expand their production and ameliorate

circumstances.



Since populations grow fastest in Africa and Asia, and since the cities of these

continents are most likely to suffer overcrowding and its consequences, Patel’s argument

carries weight. A look at the consequences of over-crowding gives the viewer with a

modicum of foresight the ability to predict city sprawling, inability of governments to catch

up with provision of infrastructure, and eradication of small-town culture, social adhesion,

and popular folklore.

Dense populations in ever-expanding cities become crime-ridden, anonymous, and

marginalizing. Patel (2011) gives a potted history of agriculture policy in developing

countries to show how logical it is to channel improvement. He demonstrates how investment

in fertilizers, improved seed, and new technologies for small holdings, especially after

devastation of wars and post-colonial self-assertion, keeps farmers on their own land. Called

‘agroecology’, this solution avoids mass migration and urban over-crowding, and makes

marked improvements in housing and food production. Increased output means they export

more foodstuffs while improving their own nutrition with crop diversity (Patel 2011).

If one were to choose between the two – that is, moving small farmers to the cities, or

helping them stay in their villages after improving their lot – there is greater value in the

latter alternative. Patel expands his reasons by showing improvements in the welfare of

women, on whose shoulders rest responsibilities of health and prosperity of whole village

populations. Conclusions can be drawn from suggestions made in this article – mostly made

using recent reports and findings from key organizations that determine directions of global

movement – that there are many ways to view issues, and it is not always the most obvious

solution that works effectively.



Reference

Patel, R. “Can the world feed 10 billion people?” Foreign Policy Magazine Retrieved August

2, 2012 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/04/

can_the_world_feed_10_billion_people


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