World Population, Agriculture, and Malnutrition World
Population, Agriculture, and Malnutrition Increases in food
production, per hectare of land, have not kept pace with
increases in population, and the planet has virtually no more
arable land or fresh water to spare. As a result, per-capita
cropland has fallen by more than half since 1960, and per-capita
production of grains, the basic food, has been falling worldwide
for 20 years. Entering the new millennium, stark contrasts are
apparent between the availability of natural resources and the
demands of billions of humans who require them for their
survival. According to the Population Reference Bureau, each day
almost a quarter-million people are added to the roughly 6.4
billion who already exist. Yet the stocks of natural resources
that support human life-food, fresh water, quality soil, energy,
and biodiversity-are being polluted, degraded, and depleted.
Global population has doubled during the last 45 years. If the
present growth rate of 1.3 percent per