There is no doubt that the world population is growing and will continue to do so, on the other hand, the natural resources are not unlimited and the amount of land on earth is a fixed. Consequently it is important for the people to the world to try to preserve what is left, and by doing so the government must step up and create such policies that regulate how the land is used and education it’s people on the effect and pressures population growth has on the environment in both a efficient and effective way. This paper examines and shows how population growth negatively affects the quality in land through past studies done on Rwanda and Zaire, two African countries.
In the articles entitled “Policies on Population, Land Use and Environment in Rwanda” by John R. May (1995) and “Population Growth, Changing Agricultural Practices, and Environmental Degradation in Zaire” by David Shapiro (1995), both authors come to the conclusion that population growth does have a negative effect on the environment, and more specifically the quality of land. Although the affect of agricultural production on the environment may not be seen in the short-run, it is in the long run. Rwanda and Zaire’s demographic state and any changes that maybe occurring is important and, secondly, the effects these demographic changes may have on the agricultural processes and how the agricultural productions costs have changes. And, lastly, the government policies that have been put into place and whether or not they are affective.
Comparison of Demographics:
Rwanda is one of most densely populated countries in sub-Saharan Africa; in 1991 the estimated population was round 7.6 million people and the area is about 26,338 sq. km. However, with the rate of population growth being estimated to be about 3.2 percent, the population is expected to double in size in less than a few of decades, but “virtually all regions of Rwanda are heavily populated”, which is often not the case for most countries, like Zaire. (May, 323). In Table 2, which has “Estimated Rwandan Population on January 1, 1991 and Physiological Densities, by Prefecture” May is able to show just how distributed Rwanda’s population is. (324) The greatest difference between two regions, in Rwanda, is roughly 400,000 people, and although this may appear to be a large number in comparison to Zaire it is small. In detail, the largest region, Gitarama, had about 921,048 people while smallest, Kibuye or Cyangugu, was around 509,860 people.
On the other hand, as mentioned about, Zaire is much the opposite, for “the disparity between rural and urban population growth has widened: From 1975 to 1984 the urban population grew at an annual rate of roughly 7 percent, compared to only 1.6 percent growth per year for the rural population” (Shapiro, 227). In the Shapiro article, Table 1, “Population Estimates, 1930-1984” has nicely lied out the distribution of population between rural and urban areas in numbers as well as the total population percentage. Not only has the population increase from about 8,8433,766 people in 1930 to 30,729,443 people in 1984, but difference between rural population and urban population is astounding as well and the gap is only expected to continue to grow. (227)
Despite the geographically differences between where their portions of the populations grow, Rwanda and Zaire population growth rates’ are nearly the same, about 3 percent. And in part because of this similarity in population growth rates, as well as other factors, like political structures, agricultural processes affect the two countries in similar ways. Both Rwanda and Zaire are faced with land extensification and intensification, which causes changes in their agricultural processing.
Changes in Agricultural Processes:
Change in the agricultural processing is the most convincing way to prove that rapid population growth does affect the quality of land. Rwanda seems to caught in a cycle to which population growth and environment degradation causes one another, thus keeping it going; the chart entitled “Linkage Between Population Pressure and Natural Resources in Rwanda” can be found in May’s article on page 325. The chart reads as the population grows pressure brings about utilization of marginal land, shorting the fallow period and the transforming of pastures and forests into cropland leads to soil degradation that too puts pressure on the natural resources.
Like May, Shapiro acknowledges that others, specifically Boserup, goes into more detail breaking down the cycle into eight effects:
(1) it reduces the fallow period; (2) it increases investment in land; (3) it encourages the shift from hand-hoe cultivation to animal traction; (4) it encourages soil fertility maintenance via manuring; (5) it reduces the average cost of infrastructure; (6) it permits more specialization in production activities; (7) it induces a change from general to specific land rights; and (8) it reduces the per capita availability of common property resources. (223)
As the population continues to grow at such a rapid pace the demand for goods increase likewise. For this reason, farmers are being forced to expand in order to accommodate the increasing demand. Therefore they must convert the marginal land, pastures and forests into fields, for there is very limited cropland within the country and all such land is already being farmed, but the demands of the people are still continue increase.
There are many negative impacts that come along with converting the land. Marginal land, a form of land extensification, which was never intended to have the demands placed upon it that agriculture requires because of low quality of the soil, “inadequate rainfall, or steep slopes” (Shapiro, 223). In effect, the marginal land crops tend to lose nutrients and often increase soil erosion. As for pastureland being used as cropland there is loss in natural fertilizer, manure. And lastly, deforestation reduces and often destroys the “vegetative cover that retains moisture and protects the soil, increasing the likelihood of soil erosion” (224). It is because of these practices that agricultural productivity tends to be low and therefore it is the job/duty of the government to step in and put policies in place that encourage the people to understand and educate themselves as to what is going on, not only to their land but also in terms of the population growth.
Government Policies – Rwanda:
Rwanda’s government has four main policies in response to the demographic growth. The first two policies focus mainly on how the country plans to deal with the effects of the growth in the population, while the third and fourth policies try to decrease the level of fertility. In the past, the first policy has had little effect or at least one that is not measurable, however the second policy has played a far more important role in terms of population growth. The policy encouraged the people to emigrate to the near by countries and then redistribute within the country, however there was no way to measure the results of such policies. (May328/9)
The third and fourth policies focused on family planning and a “general” population policy. In 1981 a national family program was launched in hopes to educate the people, especially the women and in turn lower the total fertility rate. The program proved to be fairly successful and in 1992 it was estimated that out of all the married women only 12.9 percent were in their reproductive years, and they had begun to see a decline in the total fertility rate. Shortly after, in 1990, Rwanda adapted a national population policy which main focus was to further lower the total fertility rates. However such the policy has yet to be completely put into effect, as of 1995 when the article was written.
Overall the government policies in Rwanda appear to be successful strictly in the sense that they are committed to lowering the population growth rate, however, positive results have yet to be reported. Such reforms often take time to have significant effect, nevertheless the environment and quality of land is continuing to degrade, thus it maybe in the best interest of the country to not wait. And for that reason, it maybe a good idea of the government to begin rethinking their policies and possibly take a more radical approach in hopes for a quick change.
Government Policies – Zaire:
Zaire’s land degradation is found to be a result of the population growth in the urban areas; urban population is increasing much faster than that of the rural population, unlike Rwanda. As a result of such demands from the urban population has made the rural populations, which is where most of the agricultural work is done, plant and produce more food, which leads to the degrading in the quality of land. And like Rwanda, population growth will continue increase, despite the efforts of the government to lower the fertility rate and the population growth. Unlike Rwanda, there does not appear to be any main policies, besides the public policy is to improve upon their technology and “to facilitate agricultural intensification” (234). However it does not appear as such goals well be achieve quickly, it is going to be a matter of time and teaching the people of Zaire the knowledge, as well an economic change, such as the prices of goods increasing.
In other words, if such technological advances do not happen soon or there are no economic incentives than the urban population, much more so than the rural, Zaire is going to be faced with major problems. It would also be a good for the Zaire government to set in place policies that focus on lowering the population growth and educate the people on family planning and now the economy works in relation to the environment.
Conclusion:
For the reasons above, one is about to see that the quality of land is affected by the population growth, it is a nasty cycle that needs to be stopped. Specifically Rwanda faces a challenging future if the government policies do not begin to sway negative relationship the population growth and degradation of land have on one anther. On the other hand, Zaire need to set up and enforce policies against the similar negative relationship as found in Rwanda. In other words, if new agricultural techniques are not introduced soon, or the population growth is allowed to continue to increase at such a high rate Rwanda and Zaire, as well as other countries, are going to be with problematic futures.
1. May, John F. "Policies on Population, Land Use and Environment in Rwanda", Population and Environment, Vol. 16, No. 4, March 1995, pp. 321-334.
2. Shapiro, David, "Population Growth, Changing Agricultural Practices
and Environmental Degradation in Zaire," Population and Environment,
Vol. 16, No. 3, January 1995, pp. 221-236.