With the world
population rising, demographers are grappling with one of the most pressing
issues of the century - will there be enough food for an extra two to four
billion people?
Projections of global
population growth vary widely with the United Nations last month forecasting
numbers rising to 9.6 billion in 2050 and around 10.9 billion by the end of the
century from 7.2 billion currently.
That is about 1.5
billion more people than another estimate calculated by the International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), a Vienna-based research
organisation, which predicts a world population peak of 9.4 billion
in 2070.
The Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 60 per cent
more food is needed to feed a world population of nine billion people.
“The most likely
outcome of population growth is higher food prices. I don’t think we will run
out of food, but continued high prices mean poor people will go hungry” John Bongaarts,
director of the Population Council in New York
Experts are divided on
exactly how many people the earth can sustain but are in agreement that
upper-end projections are a concern with profound implications for food prices,
the environment, security and future planning by governments.
