Rapid Population Growth
According to demographic experts, Sub-Saharan Africa’s projected population increase will not include the usual economic expansion, which is for developing countries to experience high rates of population growth. In many cases, developing countries benefit from this increase. However, in the special case of Sub-Saharan Africa, it is another cause for alarm. As the severely malnourished make economic activity less productive and food imports unaffordable, the entire region will succumb to food crisis (Pande and Kumburu et al). Neighboring countries sharing the same set of problems, for the same reasons, will compete for greater quantities of imported food. This strange economic competition will intensify and the population growth creates a crisis of stunning proportions, involving millions on the edge of famine.
Sub-Saharan Africa
This map shows the region of sub-Saharan Africa.
Rapid Population Growth and Food Scarcity
Even in regions blessed with good soil and bountiful harvests, the estimated growth in population would threaten soil productivity. In the Sub Sahara, primitive farming method, land overuse, and mismanagement heighten the damages, which have permanently destroyed the soil in many regions beyond repair. The destructive clearing, tillage, fertilization, and pest control has depleted much of the soil’s organic matter, allowed topsoil to erode away, disrupted soil ecosystems, and needlessly poisoned communities and groundwater. What will be left as conditions worsen? A call for international contributions of tremendous expense? Most likely, a food scarcity crisis of unimagined proportions.
"Hunger in Sub Saharan Africa will reach catastrophic
all-time highs at the exact moment the developed world
struggles with obesity."
"The United Nations forecast a 40 percent growth in population in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030."
Population Growth
The United Nations forecast a 40 percent growth
in population in Sub-Sahara by 2030. In just 10 years, the area will be almost one-fifth of the entire world’s population, even though it will remain very poor (Pande and Kumburu et al). The exact estimate is, “projected by 2050 to grow from 1.2 billion to 2 billion” (Pande and
Kumburu et al). In other words, the population will nearly double, while poverty spreads.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency has called attention to the problem by approving plans for more development programs for the region. Yet, “The consequences are soil acidification, loss of soil organic matter and nutrients, and soil erosion. Approximately 1million km2 appear to be affected, 40% of which comprises the land with inherently good soil and terrain conditions in the most productive areas of SSA, thus threatening food production in the long run” (Lal 81). At a moment of rapid population increase, the UN envisions a 40% loss of arable Sub-Saharan land. All of which results in less food for a larger population.
Graph of Population Growth
This graph shoes how dramatic the population growth and land decay in Africa by comparing these statistics to other areas.