Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
on natural resources and land (Note 3). A comprehensive research on the
world's major land use practices in recent times indicates that at least one-
third of the world's land surface is now used for agriculture and millions of
acres of land every year are converted to cultivation (Foley, 2005).
From this perspective, the paper will briefl y provide information in
regard to loss of natural resources annually for farming purposes. To ex-
emplify such a trend in agricultural land use, the paper in its later section
will show the direct impact of population growth on a farming community.
More indicatively, the author depicts clearly the transitional transforma-
tion of the indigenous technique of farming to modern cultivation, requir-
ing heavy demand on irrigation and chemical fertilizer which subsequently
degrade the original fertile land and environment at the local level; such is
the demographic impact on agricultural resource management. The paper
fi nally concludes with a very modest caution for all inhabitants of this
planet, saying that a judicious use of the environment is fully dependent on
the honest formulation of accurate policies to keep population below re-
placement level. This is very much an essential and strategic requirement
in our indigenous way of survival and resource management.
From the methodological point of view, the paper has adopted a conjunc-
tive technique of triangulation where the secondary sources of data from
global perspective have conceptualized an analytic-descriptive framework
for explaining the world's demographic situation, contextualizing its impact
on environmental resource management. In consonance with the above di-
mension, the paper has incorporated an ethnographic documentation at the
micro-level, showing the situation at the village level. As a matter of fact,
this is an important test on the effectiveness and accuracy of what has been
stated at the macro perspective in the global context and an ethnographic
brief in this context is proving our statement at the fi eld level.
10.2 POPULATION GROWTH AROUND THE WORLD: ITS
EQUATION AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Since the beginning of human history through the early 1800s, the global
population had been increasing more or less at a consistent rate and as
such, it did not pose any serious threat for the people around the world
