Control population before it's too late

For some time I have been thinking about agriculture and what would happen if we adopted the same sort of principles for animal breeding as some of the fastest growing places like India and Africa have when it comes to human breeding.

Now, as farmers, if we were to continue breeding our sheep at the same rate as some of these countries breed people, then we would put ourselves in the position of not being able to feed them and little words like animal welfare and the Animals Protection Act would spring to mind and the heavy hand of the law would pounce.

It seems to me that no such law exists for those countries whose populations continue to grow at such a speed that by 2050 the world population will be around 10 billion.

Add to this the doom and gloom of an ever changing world climate, our continuing dependence on fossil fuels and our need as humans to have all the gadgets and gizmos we seem unable to live without and the question then becomes how will we survive until that not so far away 2050?

China has made an attempt to control its population growth by an estimated reduction of 300 million over the last 20 years. India has established a policy to limit population growth to 2.1 but fertility rates in 2010 struggled to meet the targets and remain at 2.8 so there is no doubt we will continue to see a rapidly growing population.

It could be that India will be the first nation on the planet to reach 2 billion by the end of the 21st century. Now that's a scary thought.

But you might not agree. You might say "What's scary about that?"

Consider this: two of the fastest growing places, Africa and India will have record numbers of people facing food shortages. Thousands will die of starvation and associated illnesses while populations continue to grow and reach new levels.

You would think the politicians would see the light and endeavour to control this exploding growth as, without this form of intervention, getting to 2050 could be a nightmare.

Just as China has looked to control their population growth in the past, the rest of the world needs to consider it before it's too late. Remember where we started: as livestock farmers we don't have the right to continue breeding animals we will be unable to feed so surely it's time we, as human beings, step up to the mark and take some responsibility to control this exploding population.

Tongue in cheek, how about this for an idea: as everybody needs to drink water, how about slipping in a little something to help the job along!

This Conservation Comment was missed from the usual Monday rotation so is printed here.