4. Malthus and Boserup Flashcards

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1
Q

What was Thomas Malthus’s belief about the rate of population growth?

A

Malthus was a pessimist - he believed that rates of population growth exceeded the ability to produce sufficient food and resources, leading to “overpopulation checks” such as famine or conflict.

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2
Q

Summarise the key ideas of Thomas Malthus’s viewpoint:

A

If unchecked, the population will always outstrip the food supply
Population will be checked by famine, disease and wars over limited resources.
Once these checks occurred, the population would crash and the population-resource balance would re-establish itself.

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3
Q

Give some examples of events where Thomas Malthus’s predictions were relevant:

A
  • Desertification in Southern Sahel led to famine and high death rates
  • China felt the need to implement a very extreme population policy due to fears of experiencing symptoms such as unemployment, inflation and food shortage.
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4
Q

What are the flaws in Malthus’s prediction?

A
  • Malthus did not account for the rate at which food production would increase - technology has currently kept food production greater than population increase.
  • The population is currently over 8 billion people, without any major population checks.
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5
Q

What was Ester Boserup’s belief about the rate of population growth?

A

Boserup was an optimist - she believed that carrying capacity is dynamic and imbalance between population and resources can be overcome.

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6
Q

Summarise the key ideas of Ester Boserup’s viewpoint:

A
  • Food supply stays in line with population growth.
  • Increased food supply encourages population growth.
  • Decreased food supply encourages innovation - new technology.
  • Human technology allows us to adapt and overcome.
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7
Q

Give some examples of events where Ester Boserup’s predictions were relevant:

A

Green Revolution in India pulled many familied out of starvation and poverty through irrigation, more modern farming practices and high-yield varieties of crops.

Global deaths from famine in 2020 are lower than those in 1850, despite having a population of 8bn today.

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8
Q

What are the flaws in Ester Boserup’s prediction?

A
  • Food is not shared equally - 800 million people currently go hungry.
  • Intensive farming can destroy soil, reducing output.
  • Increase in quality of life not accounted for - increasing demand on the planet.
  • Climate change may cause food production to decline.
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9
Q

What is the definition of underpopulation?

A

Underpopulation is a situation where the population is insufficient in size to exploit its resources effectively, support ageing populations and provide growth.

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10
Q

What is the definition of optimum population?

A

Optimum population is a situation where the population produces the highest standard of living by maximising the benefits from the resources available

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11
Q

What is the definition of overpopulation?

A

Overpopulation is a situation where the population is larger than the carrying capacity of the environment.

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12
Q

What is the definition of carrying capacity?

A

Carrying capacity is the maximum number of people an environment can sustainably support at a given level of technology.

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13
Q

What are hydroponics?

A

Hydroponics are a system of agriculture involving growing plants in solution instead of soil.

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14
Q

What are the benefits of hydroponics?

A

Artificial light increases growing hours and number of harvests.
Allows crops to be grown in places of poor soil quality, unsuitable climate or dense populations.
Uses 60-90% less water than traditional methods.

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15
Q

What are the drawbacks of hydroponics?

A

Higher energy consumption.
Higher economic investment required.
High running costs.

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16
Q

Give one example of hydroponics:

A

Fresh Direct is a Nigerian company in Abuja that produces fresh salad and vegetables in recycled shipping containers.
1 acre produces 200 heads of lettuce and crops can be grown all year round.
No need for pesticides and uses poultry waste as fertiliser.

17
Q

What is appropriate technology?

A

Appropriate technology is technology suitable to the social and economic conditions of the geographical area (in which it is applied).

18
Q

What are the benefits of applied technology?

A

Improves quality of life in rural and developing areas.
Easy to make and distribute.
Efficient - frees women and children from arduous tasks.
Cheap.

19
Q

What are the drawbacks of appropriate technology?

A

Only applicable on a small-scale, local level.
Not applicable in MICs / HICs.
Doesn’t completely solve issue, only reduces time taken.

20
Q

Give two examples of appropriate technology:

A

Sorghum press in Mali

Hippo Rollers in Zambia - like a wheelbarrow and a barrel, Hippo Rollers allow for easier transportation of water by rolling.
Each bottle holds up to 25 gallons of water, 5X more effective than placing a 5 gallon bottle on your head!

21
Q

What is biotechnology?

A

Biotechnology is the modification of plant DNA in order to create plants with enhanced properties.

Note: This includes both genetic modification and selective breeding

22
Q

What are the benefits of biotechnology?

A

Crops can be enriched with vitamins to avoid deficiency.
Crops can be modified to produce higher yields.
Crops can be modified to make them hardier / grow in colder regions / drought / pest resistant.

23
Q

What are the drawbacks of biotechnology?

A

Engineered plants and large, continuous yields threatens soil fertility.
Lack of genetic diversity between modified crops.
Modification is expensive and time consuming.
Genes from crops can spread to wild grasses - uncontrollable weeds.

24
Q

Give some examples of biotechnology:

A
  • Golden Rice, India - (B- carotene makes vitamin A reducing vitamin A deficiency across Asia)
  • USA - 90% of all crops are GM (75 million hectares)
    Brazil - 50 million hectares of GM crops
25
Q

What are aeroponics?

A

Aeroponics are a system of agriculture involving growing plants in mist instead of soil.

26
Q

What are the benefits of aeroponics?

A

Works in areas with little space, like cities.
Possible harvests all year long.
Faster growth and greater harvest.
Can be grown vertically.

27
Q

What are the drawbacks of aeroponics?

A
  • Only produces leafy greens - unsuitable for rice / wheat.
  • Expensive process.
  • Not available to countries most in need.
28
Q

Give one example of aeroponics:

A

New Jersey, USA, grows over 250 types of leafy greens using aeroponics.

29
Q

What is irrigation?

A

Irrigation is the watering of land by artificial means to foster plant growth.

30
Q

What are the benefits of irrigation?

A
  • Provides minerals and fertilisers to plants as well as water.
  • Less dependency on weather - can grow in areas with frequent drought.
  • Increases crop yield.
  • Irrigation can be sourced from reservoirs and HEP reducing weather reliance further.
31
Q

What are the drawbacks to irrigation?

A
  • High water usage depletes groundwater and reservoirs.
  • Less freshwater available for human consumption
  • Threatens soil fertility.
32
Q

Give one example of a large-scale irrigation scheme:

A

The Kano River Project in Nigeria is a large-scale dam irrigation scheme to support agricultural output. Various crops such as tomato, pepper, rice, wheat and corn are produced for markets in southern Nigeria but also for local communities

Agricultural productivity in this region has increased by 150%, helping to tackle food shortages in the Kano area.