Botswana's population explosion and its impact on the land
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Date
1970
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Abstract
The first point to establish is the relevance of a "Population Explosion" to our UNOP/FAO
Project Tor "Surveys and Training for Development of Water Resources and Agricultural Production." One of the purposes of the Project is to "further the improvement of crop and animal husbandry and the adoption of irrigation Before attempting to improve, it is obvious one must study the existing systems of arable and pastoral farming, not only from the technical view—point the fertility of the land and the typos of crop and livestock it produces; but equally from the angle of the people concerned — their numbers, their methods of agriculture and animal husbandry, and how far these methods satisfy their requirements. That indeed is the task of the Sociologist and the Economist, The obvious starting point of such an enquiry must be an admission that in present circumstances and adopting present methods, the production from the land falls woefully short of the requirements of the people* But here it is necessary to quantify, that is to find out how many people, how many cattle, whether they are on the increase, and if so, at what rate. But just as the population is not static, neither are their means of production* So that, opens another line of enquiry, how are agricultural and pastoral methods changing, at what rate are they changing, and is the change alleviating or intensifying the obvious shortages. This requires some delving into history: what were the methods of the past, and how did they match up to the demands made upon them?
Description
Available in Print form, East Africana Collection, Dr Wilbert Chagula Library, ( EAF FOS F78.B67)
Keywords
Population, Botswana's
Citation
Fosbrooke, Henry A. (1970) Botswana's population explosion and its impact on the land