Date of Award:

5-1968

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences

Department name when degree awarded

Food Science and Technology

Committee Chair(s)

D. K. Salunkhe, Yun Kim

Committee

D. K. Salunkhe

Committee

Yun Kim

Committee

Ethelwyn B. Wilcox

Abstract

Investigations were carried out to project the food needs of the world population by 2000 A. D., and to explore the possibilities of meeting these requirements.

About 70 percent of the world population presently living in developing countries do not get adequate diets, and suffer from many diseases of under-nutrition and malnutrition. They are unable to increase food production themselves. People in the developed nations have enough food and their food production is increasing at a rate faster than the rate of growth of population.

Cultivable land is the main source of food for man. The seas can also be relied upon for high quality food. At present, both of these sources are not fully exploited. The amount of fresh water available can be efficiently used to irrigate additional land.

Food production in the developing countries could be more than doubled by the use of modern technology. The use of machinery, genetically improved crop varieties, fertilizers, pest control, storage and preservation, and distribution facilities can make valuable contributions towards food production and utilization.

Much of the world's malnutrition and under-nutrition is due to ignorance. Food habits and cultural practices need to be changed. People should learn to make the best use of the food available to them. The deficiencies of essential nutrients in the diets can be met by supplementing the grains with synthetic and substitute foods which could be produced on a large scale from locally grown grains and offered at reasonable rates.

The majority of the people in the developing countries are illiterate. They must be educated, but this will take time. Technical education deserves priority over other education.

A high rate of population increase is accompanied by a high percentage of children in the population. A large part of the national income is spent on these children and there is little capital formation. This inhibits economic progress. The developing countries have realized this now and some of them have adopted official population policies.

The developed nations and many international agencies have come forward to help the developing countries to increase food production and to check population growth through family planning programs. The new birth control devices; namely, the pill and the intrauterine countraceptive device (IUD or IUCD), promise great hopes. The developing countries should make the best use of the capital and technicians loaned to them and attain a self-sustaining economic growth.

During the last two decades, Mexico and Israel have increased their food production by about 250 percent. New varieties of rice and wheat have been developed in the Philippines and Mexico and are being adapted to the South East Asian countries.

Present technology is capable of increasing world food production many fold. The same technology can also be employed to control the abnormal growth of population. Perhaps the world will have no difficulty in feeding its population adequately by 2000 A. D.

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