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WORDSARE .,
HARDTOEAT
WASHINGTON: The world's fo11t
billionlb inbab11an1 g¡uped bis 6rs1
brealb during !be tbird week ofNovem–
ber 1975 aa:ording 10 1hose who calcu–
lale such tbing,J. Significantly, world
population expert.s were gatbered here
for a major confcrencc al lbe very time
Ibis historie evcn11ook place.
The inlcmational convenlion spon·
sored by lhe World Population Society
was
designed
as
a foUow-up lo tbe
Uniled Nations conference on popu·
lation in Bucharesl. Romanía, in August
1974.
The Bucharesl conference, lhrough it.s
con1roversies if nol tbrougb its aocom–
plishments, "linally pul population on
lhe fronl page around lhe world," ac·
cording lo Senacor Charles Percy (Re·
publican senator from lllinois), a
member oflbe U.S. delegacion
lb
ere.
Bu1 lllis time, 1he follow-up confer–
ence was curiously relct,aled 10 !be
so–
ciety page. One bad 10 look closely in
AFEASTFOR
RATS
~
Rat.s, birds, inseet.s, and moislllfe spoil
~nougb
grajñ in India each year to make
up for tbe entire world food sbortage.
In
the underdeveloped world as a
whole, sorne experiS estímate tbal more
Iban
baJf
tbe po<enlial food crop
is
wasted.
lo
fact, if !be pest.s thal attacked
lhe world's feed grains were brougbl un–
der control, '111 additional 200 million
lons of grain could be made available -
enougb lo feed one billion people each
year. .
Expressed anolher way, tbe elimina–
lion of wasle duo 10 crop
pesiS
could
10
articles reporting on the meeting of tbe
Shah of lran's sister witb sorne Senate
wives and on Mrs. Marcos, wife of the
Pbilippine presiden!. baving lea witb
Mrs. Ford 10 find out tbat lwo foreign
d•gnitaries were
~in
town lo speak al
a
popuia tion
conference.~
lndicative of the reduoed inlerest in
Ibis conference would be
a
comparison
between the
75
journalists who were
here to cover il and the
660
who had
covered tbe Bucbarest confcrence only
one year ago.
lt
scems tbe same pallem is now
being followed in dealingwith the popu·
lation crisis thal
has
been evidenoed in
otber
erises
wbicb bave precipilaled in·
1emational conferences.
Remember pollution? A few ycars ago
il was
a
major public issue. Firsl came
the growing public awareness resul1ing
in pressure on national govcrnments
and inlemalional organizations 10 "do
sórncthing." Then
carne
lhe rnajor head–
line-grabbing conference in Stockholm,
Sweden, in June
1972.
ThiS conference served a cwo-fold
pur¡;>OSC. On the one hand. il provided a
prelimmary asscssment of
lb
e global ex-
result in an i.mmediale
25%
incrcase in
edible grains
without any change
in agri–
cultura! productivity.
Much of the grain produced in tbe
Third World is not kepl in large ware–
bouses or gianl grain cleva1ors bul
ralberjs stored by farmers
in
theír local
villages under less Iban Ídeal conditio.ns,
oflen only in burlap saclts or simply
heaped up in a comer.
As
a result, over
$2 billion worth of food
&S
losl cach
year.
To make mauers worse. the insects,
rodents, and microorganisrns which al–
lack grain also lower it.s nutritional qual–
ity because lhese pest.s go for the higher
prolein portion oflhe grain.
Nowhere is the tragic problem of food
spoilage exemplified more Iban in India.
lenl of the problem so lhal research
could be direcled 1oward ways in which
the problem could be allacked. Bu1 the
otber pllfPOSC of lhe Stockholm confer–
eoce and other similar conferences
has
beeo
to
serve
as
bigb·water mar!r:s of !be
tide
of
publie in1eres1.
The results from lhe studies are oow
comíng in. Bul where is tbe pub
líe
ínler–
est, or more impottantly, the politícal
wiU
necessary to take actioo based on
!hose resuJts?
There
was
the famous World Food
Confereoce in Rome in November
1974
aod the Law of the Sea Coofereoce in
Geneva in the spring of
1975.
In tbe
planoing stage
now
is
a major inler–
national confereooe oo human habitaiS
whicb is slaled for Vancouver, British
Columbia. When Armageddon
is
un·
leasbed, there
wiU
probably be a confer–
ence in session on how to avoid il, puns
novelist Arlhur Koesller.
Bul whal is tbe result of Ibis "mucb
speaking"? Aside from inlensified re–
searcb into and publicity generated by
!bese severa! global
crisis
arcas, very
little. For example:
• No real allempiS are uoder way 10
"Bul for rodcniS, pests, and poor stor·
age, India would be
a
food surplus coun–
try," reports a U.N. Developmenl
Program sludy. Over
10
million lons of
food grains are losl each year because of
faulty s1oragc, which is aboul a lifth of
!be domestic crop ancf more
tbarr
lwic:t
tbe amounl of food India had to import
in 1974.
Wbile tbe jule sacks or mud conlain–
ers in which lndian farmers traditiooaUy
store their crops are much of thc prob–
lem, an uncontroUed todenl population
plays the primary role in lowering lo–
dia's grain
OUipUI.
Many ptoplt in India consider rats
"holy," aod Hinduism leaches lbal !bey
are lo be considered as tbe "divine
mounts" of the elephant-headed Lord
make a serious denl in lbe world's ex–
ploding population, mosl of which
is
in
tbe developing Tbird and Fourlb World
counlries. Con8icting ideologies and re–
ligious traditions vinuaUy 3SSW'e failure..
• Despile urgeol plead10gs from
leading world food experiS 10 establisb
food stoclrpiles, next to oothing
has
been
done in spi1e of the faa lhal world food
reserves are al their lowesl leve! ever.
A
morass of political uconsiderations" in
both food exporling and imporling
counlries frustrales food reserve plan·
ning.
• law
of the Sea conferences in–
variably bog down over tbe political hot
potato of nalional sovereignty of olf–
shore waters. Meanwlule, the ovcr-fish–
ing of tbe
ooeans
continues, and a new
tbrca1 - global
sea
poUution - prooeeds
virluaUy unchecked.
In spite of what has alteady been ac–
cornplished - or perhaps beuer pul,
publiciud - in world populolion, in
food, in pollutioo, aod in other crises, i1
ís notbiog compared 10 lhe job ye1 re–
maining 10 be done. World citiun num–
ber four billion would ayee.
- HIHiry
Sturcke
Ganesh, the Hindu god of prosperity.
The strong H indu belief in tbe sanctity
of animal life has allowed tbe ra1 popu–
lation in India to grow lo
2.5
billion, so
thal lhe "revered rodeots" now out–
number lhc human populatíon 6ve lo
one.
AgriculturaJ losses úom tal infesla–
tion exceed
$240
million a ycar; yel
most rural villagers remain reluctanl to
use ra1 poisoo because of their religious
convietions.
Other ueas of the Third World
present similar cooditions. lo Africa,
61\y-five million people could be fed
from thc grain wbicb is instead con–
sumcd by rat.s, locusiS, birds. beelles,
molhs, weevils,
and
bacteria. Furlher–
more, over 4.24 millioo square miles of
good
grazing land is olf limit.s for caule
production because il is dominated by
tbe
t.setse
lly wbicb spreads sleeping
sickness among domestic animals.
Food spoilage isn'l tbe exclusive prov–
inoe of the developing countries either.
The Departmcnl of Agriculture esti–
males thál up lo a tllitd of lhe polcntial
American
grain liarves1
is
los1 10 insecls,
disease, and weeds. Dr. Elvin C. Stak–
man, plan1 patbologisl al the University
of Minnesota, believes thal American
fa.rmers planl over
75
miUion acres of
crop land a year in order to support
weeds and pests.
At the momeot.food developmelll ex–
petts are working on severa! ways of
s1emming !be wasle of food crops. More
eiTective drying of grains, hcrmelic seal·
ing oflarge airtigbl bins, and greater use
of plastic bags 10 keep insccts out of lhc
food are a ll possibilities.
Yel lhe fact thal the Uoiled S1a1es, a
lechnologicaUy advaneed country witb
all !bese meaos at its disposal. still loses
a disproponionate amouol of its crop to
pests is discouragiog.
This
casts a doubl
on
lhe
possibility
tJtat
200
million 1ons
of grain in the undetdeveloped world
can be divened away from voracious
pests and inlo hungry human moulhs.
- Jeff Celkins
FEBRUARY 1976