Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 12
SPATIAL-TEMPORAL VARIATION OF
POPULATION GROWTH
AND SUSTAINABILITY OF
FOOD GRAIN PRODUCTION
IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA
SANJIT SARKAR
AND
KASTURI MONDAL
12.1 INTRODUCTION
Population increases in a geometrical ratio whereas food production in-
creases only in arithmetic ratio. This fact of unbalanced growth pattern be-
tween population and food production became a priority discussion point
in late eighteen century when Malthus predicted that population growth
would outstrip food supply, causing great human suffering. When popula-
tion continues rapidly within the limited resources, it has several adverse
implications on earth, agriculture, bio-diversity, environment and popula-
tion itself [1, 2]. Hence the most focused aim of government population
policy is population stabilization, either by expanding family planning ser-
vices or improving socio economic status of women [3]. Bucharest con-
ference in 1974 emphasized to reduce the population growth by focusing
