ANALYSIS
The
Fallacy of the Population Theory
Malthus
was wrong for theorizing that hunger would be caused by population
growth. It is being caused by social inequities and injustice. It is also
not true that the Arroyo government is clueless as to why poverty and
hunger are getting worse, its policies and programs are making it worse.
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat
Thomas
Robert Malthus, an economist, sociologist, and member of the clergy,
published his work, An Essay on the Principles of Population in
1798. In his essay, he put forward the theory that the major reason for
the extreme poverty of people was that the world’s population was growing
faster than the food supply. He said that poverty and hunger could not be
avoided because population increases at a geometric rate while food
supplies increase at an arithmetical rate. His theory is embraced by
economists even today, thus, one important measure of actual and potential
economic progress is the decreasing rate of growth of the population.
If
Malthus’ theory was true and the projections of the National Statistical
Coordination Board are accurate then there really is cause for optimism.
In a news item published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer May 10, the
government announced that, “POPULATION
growth in the
Philippines, the world's 12th most populous state, has slowed to 1.95
percent annually since last year, compared to 2.1 percent in the previous
five years.” The National Statistical Coordination Board said in a
statement that, “The
slower birth rate is projected for the six-year period to 2010, when the
population is estimated to reach more than 94 million.”
Not to
let an opportunity to boast past, the Arroyo government claimed credit for
it and said that this rate can already be maintained so that funds for
population control may be used for other purposes.
If the
growth rate of the population is decreasing, why then is the incidence of
hunger increasing?
In its
survey from March 8-14, the Social Weather Station (SWS) reported that
2.8 million families or 16.9
percent of the population experienced hunger; 700,000 families or 4.2
percent experienced severe hunger (families
going hungry Often or Always in the last three months);
2.1 million families or 12.7 percent
experienced moderate hunger (going hungry
Once or A Few Times in the last three months)
These
figures already represented an increase from the last quarter of 2005.
This is a new record high from the time SWS
began surveying hunger in mid-1998. And the incidence of hunger has been
in double-digits for eight consecutive quarters.
There is
also no problem in the food supply. The drop in the production of major
food items – rice, root crops, fruits, vegetables and sugar – from 8,779
kilograms per person per year in 1969-71 to 7,299 in 2000-02 is
intentional on the part of government. It has a program for land use
conversion to give way to industrial enclaves, recreational facilities,
malls, and private subdivisions. It encouraged the shift to cash crops.
But it kept on assuring the public that there would be no food shortage.
The
government even allowed the dumping of agricultural surplus from advanced
capitalist countries to the detriment of local agricultural production.
As a result, rice imports increased by 540 percent, corn by 320 percent,
poultry by 580 percent, beef by 230 percent, pork by 120 percent and fish
by 45 percent. The Philippines never had a shortage of these products but
these were imported anyway.
There is
an abundance of food in the world and yet people go hungry. And it is not
because of population growth.
Hunger
is not being caused by the lack of supply but by the lack of access to
food. Food is abundant but those with no work or with very low income
cannot afford to buy food.
In the
Philippines, those with lack of access to proper nutritional food are even
more than the reported incidences of hunger. With a more realistic
poverty threshold of P112 per person per day, poverty and, consequently,
lack of access to food affect an estimated 80 percent of the population or
a huge 62 million Filipinos who must be considered poor.
The
Arroyo government said that it is clueless as to why hunger is increasing
because it is doing everything to address poverty. On the contrary, it is
doing everything to worsen poverty and hunger. It is making the Filipino
people vulnerable to exploitation, profiteering, and price spikes by its
policies of import liberalization, deregulation, and privatization of
basic utilities and services. It is increasing the tax burden of the
people. It fails to generate opportunities for gainful employment in the
country. Worse, its massive military operations in the countrysides
victimize and dislocate peasants who constitute majority of the Filipino
people.
Malthus
was wrong for theorizing that hunger would be caused by population
growth. It is being caused by social inequities and injustice. It is also
not true that the Arroyo government is clueless as to why poverty and
hunger are getting worse, its policies and programs are making it worse.
Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.