Population and Food Global Trends and Future Prospects

About this book

Examines recent trends in food production and assesses the prospects for feeding humanity in the twenty-first century. `..the best account there is' - John Caldwell.

Contents

PESSIMISTS AND OPTIMISTS: 1: Population and food 2: Some history and theory 3:Some anti-Malthusian views 4: The modern neo-Malthusian case 5: A question of balance 6: Concluding remarks II: POPULATION AND FOOD TODAY 1: Introduction 2: Data sources and data quality 3: Dividing up the world 4: The definition and extent of hunger 5: Cereal production, consumption, trade and aid 6: Population growth and food supplies 7: An aside on food security 8: Summary and discussion III. POPULATION AND FOOD - RECENT TRENDS 1: Introduction 2: Trends in world cereal production 3: Where is the 'green revolution'? 4: Food crises and famines - (i) The disaster in China in 1959-64 (ii) The 'world food crisis' of 1972-74 (iii) The crisis of 1983-84 (iv) Postscript on famines 5: Regional cereal production trends - (i) Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East (ii) South Asia and the Far East (iii) Latin America, North America/Oceania and Europe/FSU 6: Resume and commentary 7: Changes in harvest variability 8: Trends in food production, availability and variety 9: Summary and discussion IV. EXPLORING THE FUTURE: DEMAND AND SUPPLY 1: Introduction 2: Future demand for cereals - (i) The demographic basis of growth in demand (ii) The non-demographic basis of growth in demand (iii) Future demand - a synthesis 3: Future supply of cereals - (i) Basic agricultural resources - cropland, irrigation, fertilizers (ii) The relative contributions of area and yield (iii) Yield levels and trends 4: Weighing 'demand' and 'supply' - (i) The importing regions (ii) The exporting regions 5: Overview of the scenario 6: Summary and discussion V. EXPLORING THE FUTURE: POTENTIALS AND CONSTRAINTS 1: Introduction 2: Global atmospheric changes - (i) Global warming (ii) Ozone depletion 3: Soil and water - (i) Soil degradation (ii) Water for agriculture 4: Farm imputs, crop developments and research - (i) Fertilizers (ii) Pesticides (iii) Foodcrops and biotechnology 5: Physical and human capital 6: Institutions and markets 7: Food prices 8: Summary and discussion VI. EXPLORING THE FUTURE: REGIONAL VIGNETTES 1: Introduction 2: Sub-Saharan Africa 3: The MIddle East 4: South Asia 5: The Far East 6: Latin America 7: Europe and the former Soviet Union 8: North America and Oceania 9: Concluding remarks VII. CONCLUSIONS, FORECASTS, CAVEATS, TEMPERED HOPE 1: Preamble 2: Conclusions 3: Forecasts 4: Caveats 5: Tempered hope.

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