Open AccessPoverty, Agricultural Intensification, and the Environment (The Distinguishedl Lecture)
Author(s) -
Per Pinstrup Andersen,
Rajul Pandya-Lorch
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v33i4ipp.463-496
Subject(s) - agriculture , agricultural economics , per capita , population , agricultural productivity , food processing , geography , poverty , world population , food security , productivity , population growth , developing country , economic growth , economics , biology , archaeology , food science , demography , sociology
As the world's population increases by almost 100 millionpeople each year during the next two to three decades-the largest annualpopulation increase in history- agricultural intensification, i.e.production of more food on land already being cultivated, is a must.There is little scope for increasing cultivated land in Asia, NorthAfrica, and Central America, while in Sub-Saharan Africa and SouthAmerica, physical and technological constraints are likely to restrainlarge-scale conversion of potentially cultivable land [Dram and Hojjati(1994)]. Agricultural intensification is already the main source ofincreased food production. I Intensive use of chemical fertilizers,pesticides, and irrigation technology, in combination withhigher-yielding crop varieties, has led to enough food being produced inthe world such that if it were evenly distributed, no one would gohungry. Global food production per capita increased from about 260kilograms (kgs) in 1950 to about 350 kgs in the early 1990s [FAD(1992)]. In developing countries the corresponding increase was from 170kgs to 250 kgs.