Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
enormous economic prosperity. Yet it is suspected that they might face
problems due to an increase in population in the near future. As demogra-
phers, we may need to caution them about their future.
10.3 POPULATION PRESSURE ON LAND AND AGRICULTURAL
RESOURCES: GLOBAL CONTEXT
Population increase in many parts of the world has consequential effect on
agricultural resource because an excessive growth of population can drasti-
cally minimize agricultural land throughout the world. It is reported that
agricultural land which extracts food and cereals contain only 12% of the
total land area of the planet which does not seem to be sufficient in terms
of covering the subsistence of such a huge incumbent population. Of the
remaining total 24% are arid grass land which is used for pasturing and graz-
ing purposes, and another 30% is covered by forest necessary to protect the
environment from greenhouse effect and other climatological imbalances.
The remaining 34 per cent of the total land of the planet is fully unusable
for any crop production as they are stony, too steepy or are exposed to ex-
tremely dry, cold and wet atmospheric conditions (Buringh, 1989). These
lands are simply geologically infertile, unusable for pastures as grass land,
and climatically unsuitable for crop production (Pimentel, 1989).
Thus, it becomes logical that when population grows at an unlimited
rate, it obviously puts pressure on our marginally available 12% of useable
agricultural land, the supply of which is also shrinking day by day (Note
4). An extreme growth of population also squeezes the per capita avail-
ability of cultivable land. Based on evidence, it is calculated that at pres-
ent, we require 0.5 hectare per capita crop land as a minimal requirement
to sustain a proper diet and nutrition. But due to continuous population
growth and also rapid land degradation, the availability of per capita land
is reduced to an extreme point day by day (Leach, 1995). In many Third
World countries, it is far below the global average, putting people under
serious food shortage and effectual causation of poverty and hunger. An
example can be found in Honduras where John Pender (1999) formulated
