1636 



efforts were underway to provide them. But, with respect to food 

 supply the genetic developments of the Green Revolution presaged 

 a large increase in the production of feed grains. More intensive use 

 of fertiUzers offered opportunities of further major gains. Also of 

 importance was the apphcation of well-established technologies of 

 food preservation, storage, and protection against depredations of 

 pests. With respect to population stabilization, the evidence of the 

 developed countries suffices to demonstrate that sharp increases in 

 numbers are not an inevitable consequence of rising affluence but 

 rather the reverse. However, the primary factor missing in the de- 

 veloping countries is the complex of institutions and organizational 

 arrangements to create the social, cultural, economic, educational, 

 and other modifications in human behavior and relationships that 

 collectively result in the motivation of a population to relate its 

 numbers to its resources. In 1971 the rate of population increase was 

 steepest in the countries least able to sustain it. While the United 

 States was exerting increasing pressure on these countries to develop 

 an institutional capability to stabilize the food/people equation, the 

 traditional emphasis of the United States on freedom of individual 

 choice, combined with respect for cultural and religious values, tended 

 to negate official pressures for dealing constructively with the popu- 

 lation side of the equation. By itself, the encouragement of food 

 production in the developing countries, supplemented by U.S. exports,- 

 was no adequate answer. 



food/people equation as index of development 



The status of the food/people equation is an excellent index of 

 development. But development must deal with a far larger scope of 

 programs than food production and population stabiUzation. To 

 achieve the necessary level of progress, including the equation discussed 

 here, requires strengthened organization of political forms, improved 

 educational and pubUc health institutions, more comprehensive and 

 timely gathering of statistical data, systems of technology transfer 

 (as for example the highly successful U.S. system of agricultural 

 county agents), rail and highway transport, and other elements of 

 technological infrastructure. 



Prospects and Options Suggested by the Study 



A number of policy issues that might merit congressional attention 

 can be drawn from the study. Others, coming out of the 4 years of 

 experience since the study was first issued, amplify but do not alter 

 the general thrust of the report. 



BILATERAL VERSUS MULTILATERAL APPROACH 



The study divided its attention between two kinds of approaches to 

 the food/people equation: one was the U.S. bilateral approach in 

 which food was used directly as aid and indirectly as a motivation for 

 population control by the aided country; the other was the efforts of 

 the United Nations and associated U.N. institutions, chiefly the 

 Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank, to deal with 

 the problem on a global basis. Neither approach has scored marked 

 success and even diagnosis of the problem lacks specificity. The fault 

 appears to lie more in the field of the social sciences and their apphca- 

 tion than in the field of technology. 



