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¶ … overpopulation is one of the factors causing global food crises (Sample 2007). Two potentially conflicting solutions are being proposed to address the problem of population growth. One solution is to increase global food production using agricultural technologies including the genetic modification of plants. Another solution is to curb population growth by encouraging the education of women worldwide and increasing child survival rates. While the former solution may seem attractive as well as profitable, it is not a panacea. In fact, increasing food production using technologies could potentially have devastating effects on people and the environment, which would worsen and not solve humanitarian crises. Reducing population growth is the only valid long-term solution because overpopulation is a symptom of other social, political, and economic issues too.
Worldviews that support the use of technology to increase food production may be rooted in religious beliefs such as "be fruitful and multiply." More likely, the worldview that supports agricultural technologies to intervene in the global food crisis is capitalism. Agro-business and biotechnology stand a lot to gain from patenting seeds and controlling the chemicals farmers put on their crops. While educating farmers to improve yields is necessary, introducing genetic modification and toxic chemicals into the soil is unnecessary and likely to be harmful in the long run.
The worldview that supports long-term solutions to the food crisis is a sensible one because it focuses on the underlying causes rather than the symptoms. Overpopulation is at least in part due to poverty and political disenfranchisement, especially the subjugation of women worldwide. Jimeno (2005) notes that the ability of women to choose whether or not to have children may be the single most important factor in reducing population growth. Overpopulation causes more problems than just food shortages. The greater the population, the greater the consumption of resources in general will be. "Population growth creates problems beyond the impacts of excess consumption.," (Hanauer 1998). Therefore, reducing population is far more important than increasing food production.
References
Hanauer, M.G. (1998). Overpopulation and consumption: where we should focus. Minnesotans for Sustainability. Retrieved Nov 10, 2009 from http://www.mnforsustain.org/pop_overpopulation_consumption_technology_hanauer.htm
Jimeno, J.F. (2005). Population growth drops when women are free to choose. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Retrieved Nov 10, 2009 from http://www.pcij.org/stories/2005/pills2.html
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