The pressure of world population on natural resources has once again given rise to the spectre of Malthusian stagnation and even the possibility of the collapse of civilized life on our planet. The ghost of Malthus will not be laid to rest. Each year 10 to 30 million people are expected to die of starvation or of diseases made fatal by malnutrition. The West African nations India Pakistan Indonesia and the Philippines are devastated alternately by torrential floods and by blistering droughts that produce crop failures in an unpredictable pattern. Sub-Saharan Africa often caught in the grip of long droughts-suffers a death toll that can climb to several million in a matter of months. The terrible tragedy underlying today's food-population dilemma is that even if we succeed in feeding the famished we may only be deferring the starvation of far greater numbers unless food supplies keep pace with or exceed population growth. In the wake of mounting difficulties with producing enough food from land areas throughout the world more and more attention is being given to alternative sources of food. It is within this context-the world food crisis that this study explores the role of aquaculture or the farming of aquatic animals and plants in augmenting the world's food supply. Let us first look at some of the factors that have been involved in the food-population dilemma.
Data pubblicazione
23/03/1977