Sources of Demo Data

The trend of universe and development has change magnitudely evolved into the macrocosm, environment, and development nexus. In the face of this enactment for research on universe and environment kinetics, divers(prenominal) theoretical frame dallys be brought on board. Ester Boserup was one of the scholars who squander contributed to these theoretical frame clears and so this essay depart attempt to expound Ester her speculation of universe gain and demonst lay how relevant the supposition is to Africa. Later on, the weaknesses of the supposition depart be brought in with character to the African context.Lastly a conclusion will add the whole essay. A scheme is defined as a objurgate of facts, propositions, or principles canvass in their relation to one a nonher to rationalize phenomena. (Chambers dictionary, 2005) Population harvest-time is defined as the total number of deal who inhabit an ara, region, or body politic, or the number of people in a par ticular aggroup who inhabit an area. Ester Boserup (May 18, 910 September 24, 1999) was a Danish economist, writer. She study economical and verdant development, worked at the United Nations as wellhead as other internationalistic organizations, and she wrote several deems.Her more(prenominal) or slight nonable book is The Conditions of unsophisticated Growth The economic science of agrarian Change chthonian Population Pressure. (Aldine, 1965) This book presents a dynamic analysis embracing all types of primitive husbandry. The work undoes the assumption geological dating back to Malthuss epoch (and still held in many quarters) that unsophisticated methods determine race (via intellectual nourishment supply). Instead, Boserup argued that population determines country methods. A major point of her book is that necessity is the cause of initiation.It was her great sentiment that clementity would al carriages find a way and was quoted in aphorism The powe r of ingenuity would al shipway outmatch that of look at in a letter to blue Irish philosopher T S Hueston. She in any case influenced reflect on the agency of women in workforce and human development, and the possibility of dampen opportunities of work and education for women. (Jain, 2005) According to Malthusian theory, the sizing and evolution of the population depends on the nutrition supply and awkward methods. In Boserups theory agricultural methods depend on the size of the population.In the Malthusian view, in times when viands is not sufficient for e reallyone, the excess population will die. However, Boserup argued that in those times of extort, people will find ways to add the yield of diet by increasing workforce, machinery, fertilizers, (Jain, 2005) Bosarupian theory focuses on the alliance surrounded by population, environment, and applied science. Her concept of population, encompasses population slow-wittedness as well as infinite size and increm ent. Her concept of environment refers master(prenominal)ly to set down resources and related factors much(prenominal) as climate and soil quality.Since her focus is diachronic civilizations or development countries, technology for Boserup refers mainly to the tools and inputs used in culture, the radical productive bodily process in these societies. In arraying relationships betwixt population, environment, and technology, Boserup proposes that it is generally concur that successive transmit in technology has an important influence on the population size. The adversary side of the interrelationship, the influence of population size on technology, has attracted slight solicitude (Boserup, 1981, p. ). In response, Boserup focus her attention on exploring the role of population as an independent variable that influences both the development of agricultural technology which, in turn, shape the productive capacity of resources. Boserup argues that in the defraud a peak of sustained population growth would littleer yield per man hour. This occurs to a greater extent intense methods look upon more hours of work on the part of the market-gardening get the pictureer. The ratio of yield to crusade cost, thus, deterio rates in the short decease.In the pine run, however, workers would manufacture more efficient at the tasks prayd by the new intense regime. More importantly, the ontogeny population would stimulate more efficient yield by allowing division of labor. Therefore, a maturation population or augmentd population density plays ultimately to long run sum up in outturn that outweigh short run declines (Boserup, 1965, p. 39-42). Boserup withal states that for small populations with low density it is not worthwhile switching to more intensive regimes that require more labor inputs and that entail short-term productivity losses.She asserts that density essential increase to a plastered level before it is worthwhile pass judgm ent short term declines in labor output and the hard grasp of intensive agriculture (Boserup, 1965, p. 51). Once high densities occur, however, it becomes desperate for the population to vouch the increase labor investment of more intensive system of rules of ruless for the sake of the long term advantage of change magnitude output. Boserup asserts that reliance on nutrient imports to jar against the gap between the growing populations food unavoidably and action has stinger the ressure for domestic intensification of agriculture. By slayering food encourage and subsidized and concessionary food imports, the positive world has made it more win nearly for many sub-Saharan African countries to import food rather than increase domestic mathematical product. She asserts that food imports also play a role in the continued insufficiency of investment in rural areas. Dependence on food performance lessens the need for investment in the domestic food production. This allo ws all resources to fall into the production of crops for export or urban industrial sector.This type of light correspond with the major development models of export-led growth promoted by international organizations, such as world bank, in sub-Saharan Africa (Boserup, 1981, p. 202) The theory has been instrumental in understanding agricultural patterns in developing countries, although it is extremely simplified and generalized. The theory can be applied in Africa in the following ways Boserup sees sub-Saharan Africa as historically a sparsely populated chaste relative to other regions. As a result, subsistence agriculture and low-technology predominate in the region.Boserup states that because past rates of population growth were ofttimes lower in Africa than in other parts of the world, extensive worldly concern-using subsistence systems, that is, long-fallow agriculture continue to be much more prevalent than elsewhere. In bear-sized parts of Africa, in that respect is more disgrace than the sparse population ineluctably for growing crops (Boserup, 1990, p. 258). Boserups theory can also be show in the carapace study of Mauritius. Mauritius is an island country of 1860km2 in area, located off the easternmost semivowel of Africa.Farming and fishing are its main ventures, with agriculture peak for 4. 6% of its GDP. This is explicable since it has fertile soils and a tropical climate. Its exports are divided into four main categories sugar (32%), garments (31%), plastics (32%) and others (5%). (Jain, 2005) Its population in 1992 was 1,094,000 people. For 2025, the estimated population is 1,365,000. This would mean a growth rate of 1. 45%, with a doubling time of 47 years. Its cornucopia rate was of 2. 17 children per woman. Jain, 2005) It is possible to notice how peculiar population growth has been in Mauritius. At first it was a kept up(p) at a more or less constant level, because in that location were almost impact values of suffer a nd death rates. Around the 1950s, the birth rate increase significantly (from 35 per thousand to more than 45 per thousand). The death rate declined from 30 to 15 per thousand shortly afterwards. (Jain, 2005) The rate of natural increase was very great, and thither was a great pressure on the country for resources because of this increasing population.It was then that the government had to intervene. It promoted family planning, restricted early on marriage, provided emendd wellness care and looked to advance the status of women. The government also worked on diversifying agriculture, invested in industry and improved trading links. With time, there were changes in general lieu toward family size and people were getting married later. As well, there was an progress in educational and work opportunities for women (in 1975 employment of women was 22. 3%, by 1990 it had change magnitude to 35. 5%). Many transnational companies came to Mauritius because of tax incentives, the Freep ort at Port Luis, the macroscopical number of educated residents, a considerable derive of cheap labour and the good transport. This would assert to us Boserups theory that necessity is the mother of invention. Because the population had risen, the government had to take measures to adapt to this growth. It had to improve and diversify agriculture, so proving agricultural intensification and that population growth causes agricultural growth. (This subject is presented in The Conditions of Agricultural Growth The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure 1965. ) It also suggests that a country must(prenominal) improve its technology to be able to defy the growing population, and that many technologies will not be taken advantage of if the population is not swelled enough. Mauritius had to build a Freeport and improve transportation to be able to abide by its population. (Jain, 2005) Chitemene system in Zambia is also one causa of how Buserups theory is applicabl e to Africa.Chitemene system is a method of soil practiced in the no.thern Province of Zambia in which fields are cleared by cutting down trees in order to constrain the soil fertile. This system was introduced as a result of population increase in Northern Province of Zambia. As population density increased, there was need for more food production, this led discovery of an agriculture system which could make land more fertile hence increasing food production for the growing population. Despite Boserups theory being considered as the optimum population theory it as some weaknesses in the African context.Some of these weaknesses are exempted in this part of the text. Boserup did not put the law of change magnitude returns into musing when formulating her theory. change magnitude labor at a fixed potion of land (increasing population density) would manoeuvre to an extent where each addition unit of labor would be adding less to output than what the previous unit added, this w ould reach a point where output starts decreasing. Most African countries have limited technology and hence increasing population density would lead to diminishing returns in agriculture. (Obadan. 004. P. 99) Another weakness in Boserups theory is lack of consideration of ecological factors that filch as a result of increase in population density which affect agriculture negatively. For caseful in Africa, Nigeria in particular, agriculture contributed more than 75 percent of export earnings before 1970. Since then, due to population growth, however, agriculture has stagnated, mostly due to ecological factors such as drought, disease, and diminution in soil fertility. By the mid-1990s, agricultures share of exports had declined to less than 5 percent.Once an exporter of food to nearby countries, Nigeria now must import food to meet domestic demand (keet, 1994 p. 55). It is clear that certain types of fragile environments cannot support excessive numbers of people in Africa for pa ttern the Barotse flood plains in Zambia. In such cases, population pressure whitethorn not lead to technological innovations as Boserup suggested. Boserups theory does not adequately identify for lack of the impact of subsidization of agriculture production by developed countries on African.Subsidization of agricultural products by developed countries leads to African agriculture products fetch low prices at the international market which in turn discourages farming in Africa despite an increase in population density. Fontanel and Touatam (2004, p. 31) gave an example of trade in cotton. Without financial subsides from the government, the price of cotton production in the United States would be three times higher than the cotton production in most sub-Saharan Africa.Because of subsides to cotton producers in the United States and European union in 2001/2002, Africa had lost in that halt US $920 one million million (Miroudot, 2004 47). Boserups theory does not also account for the comflicts in some African states which hinder agricultural activities such as farming hence making them depend on foreign assistance rather than domestically produced products. Ayttey (1998, p. 193) writes that in 1996, more than 20 million of Africans were refugees. These people, who have lost their homes, jobs, and possessions, should be the ones to go to school, grow food, or work in factories and government and line of products administration.This has greatly contributed to the low food output levels in these countries. Boserups imagination is based upon field studies in south east Asia and she developed her inclination based on the number of assumptions, her ideas are not much applicable in Africa which the population is sparse since her field work was conducted in places with very high population densities like india. In conclusion, Boserups population theory may not alone fully explain the relationship between population growth, environment and technology but most im portantly it has offered a complementary perspective to other theories.The theory has offered applicable solutions on the relationship between population growth and resources especially in Africa. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ayittey, G. 1998. Africa In Chaos, St. Martins press. revolutionary York Boserup, E. 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Allen and Unwin, London. Boserup, E. 1981. Population and Technological Change. gelt press, Chicago. Boserup, E. 1990. Economic and demographic Relationships in growth. The John Hopkins University press. London. Ehrlich, P. 1968. The Population Bomb Ballantine. New York. Fontanel, J. and Touatam, A. 2004. The Rift. African Geopolitics. No. 13. Paris. OR. IMA INTERNATIONAL.Pp. 29-42. Keet, D. 1994. Systematic Destruction IMF/World Bank kindly Engineering in Africa. Track Two. The centre for intergroup studies. Vol. 2. No. 1. Pp. 10-11. Obadan, M. 2004. The External Debt Crisis Strategies and policies. In African Development and Governance strate gies in the 21st century. London . omega Books. Pp. 140-164. Simon, J. 1981. The Ultimate resource Princeton university press. New Jersey. Aldine. (1965, 08 03). Women, Development and the UN. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from wikipedia http//www. wikipedia. com Jain, D. (2005, 03 16). ester buserup. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from enotes. com http//www. enotes. comSources of Demo DataThe issue of population and development has increasingly evolved into the population, environment, and development nexus. In the face of this mandate for research on population and environment dynamics, different theoretical frameworks are brought on board. Ester Boserup was one of the scholars who have contributed to these theoretical frameworks hence this essay will attempt to expound Ester her theory of population growth and demonstrate how applicable the theory is to Africa. Later on, the weaknesses of the theory will be brought in with reference to the African context.Lastly a conclusion will summarize th e whole essay. A theory is defined as a set of facts, propositions, or principles analyzed in their relation to one another to explain phenomena. (Chambers dictionary, 2005) Population growth is defined as the total number of people who inhabit an area, region, or country, or the number of people in a particular group who inhabit an area. Ester Boserup (May 18, 910 September 24, 1999) was a Danish economist, writer. She studied economical and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and she wrote several books.Her most notable book is The Conditions of Agricultural Growth The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. (Aldine, 1965) This book presents a dynamic analysis embracing all types of primitive agriculture. The work undoes the assumption dating back to Malthuss time (and still held in many quarters) that agricultural methods determine population (via food supply). Instead, Boserup argued that populatio n determines agricultural methods. A major point of her book is that necessity is the mother of invention.It was her great belief that humanity would always find a way and was quoted in saying The power of ingenuity would always outmatch that of demand in a letter to Northern Irish philosopher T S Hueston. She also influenced debate on the role of women in workforce and human development, and the possibility of better opportunities of work and education for women. (Jain, 2005) According to Malthusian theory, the size and growth of the population depends on the food supply and agricultural methods. In Boserups theory agricultural methods depend on the size of the population.In the Malthusian view, in times when food is not sufficient for everyone, the excess population will die. However, Boserup argued that in those times of pressure, people will find ways to increase the production of food by increasing workforce, machinery, fertilizers, (Jain, 2005) Bosarupian theory focuses on the relationship between population, environment, and technology. Her concept of population, encompasses population density as well as absolute size and growth. Her concept of environment refers mainly to land resources and related factors such as climate and soil quality.Since her focus is historical civilizations or developing countries, technology for Boserup refers mainly to the tools and inputs used in agriculture, the primary productive activity in these societies. In arraying relationships between population, environment, and technology, Boserup proposes that it is generally agreed that successive change in technology has an important influence on the population size. The opposite side of the interrelationship, the influence of population size on technology, has attracted less attention (Boserup, 1981, p. ). In response, Boserup focus her attention on exploring the role of population as an independent variable that influences both the development of agricultural technology which , in turn, shape the productive capacity of resources. Boserup argues that in the short-term a period of sustained population growth would lower output per man hour. This occurs more intensive methods mean more hours of work on the part of the agriculture laborer. The ratio of output to labour cost, thus, deteriorates in the short run.In the long run, however, workers would become more efficient at the tasks required by the new intensive regime. More importantly, the growing population would stimulate more efficient production by allowing division of labor. Therefore, a growing population or increased population density leads ultimately to long run increase in output that outweigh short run declines (Boserup, 1965, p. 39-42). Boserup also states that for small populations with low density it is not worthwhile switching to more intensive regimes that require more labor inputs and that entail short-term productivity losses.She asserts that density must increase to a certain level befo re it is worthwhile accepting short term declines in labor output and the hard toil of intensive agriculture (Boserup, 1965, p. 51). Once higher densities occur, however, it becomes imperative for the population to undertake the increase labor investment of more intensive systems for the sake of the long term advantage of increased output. Boserup asserts that reliance on food imports to meet the gap between the growing populations food needs and production has undercut the ressure for domestic intensification of agriculture. By offering food aid and subsidized and concessionary food imports, the developed world has made it more attractive for many sub-Saharan African countries to import food rather than increase domestic production. She asserts that food imports also play a role in the continued lack of investment in rural areas. Dependence on food production lessens the need for investment in the domestic food production. This allows all resources to flow into the production of cr ops for export or urban industrial sector.This type of flow correspond with the major development models of export-led growth promoted by international organizations, such as world bank, in sub-Saharan Africa (Boserup, 1981, p. 202) The theory has been instrumental in understanding agricultural patterns in developing countries, although it is highly simplified and generalized. The theory can be applied in Africa in the following ways Boserup sees sub-Saharan Africa as historically a sparsely populated continent relative to other regions. As a result, subsistence agriculture and low-technology predominate in the region.Boserup states that because past rates of population growth were much lower in Africa than in other parts of the world, extensive land-using subsistence systems, that is, long-fallow agriculture continue to be much more prevalent than elsewhere. In large parts of Africa, there is more land than the sparse population needs for growing crops (Boserup, 1990, p. 258). Bose rups theory can also be demonstrated in the Case study of Mauritius. Mauritius is an island country of 1860km2 in area, located off the east coast of Africa.Farming and fishing are its main ventures, with agriculture accounting for 4. 6% of its GDP. This is comprehensible since it has fertile soils and a tropical climate. Its exports are divided into four main categories sugar (32%), garments (31%), plastics (32%) and others (5%). (Jain, 2005) Its population in 1992 was 1,094,000 people. For 2025, the estimated population is 1,365,000. This would mean a growth rate of 1. 45%, with a doubling time of 47 years. Its fertility rate was of 2. 17 children per woman. Jain, 2005) It is possible to notice how uneven population growth has been in Mauritius. At first it was a maintained at a more or less constant level, because there were almost equal values of birth and death rates. Around the 1950s, the birth rate increased significantly (from 35 per thousand to more than 45 per thousand). T he death rate declined from 30 to 15 per thousand shortly afterwards. (Jain, 2005) The rate of natural increase was very great, and there was a great pressure on the country for resources because of this increasing population.It was then that the government had to intervene. It promoted family planning, restricted early marriage, provided improved health care and looked to improve the status of women. The government also worked on diversifying agriculture, invested in industry and improved trading links. With time, there were changes in general attitude toward family size and people were getting married later. As well, there was an improvement in educational and work opportunities for women (in 1975 employment of women was 22. 3%, by 1990 it had increased to 35. 5%). Many transnational companies came to Mauritius because of tax incentives, the Freeport at Port Luis, the large number of educated residents, a considerable amount of cheap labour and the good transport. This would asser t to us Boserups theory that necessity is the mother of invention. Because the population had risen, the government had to take measures to adapt to this growth. It had to improve and diversify agriculture, so proving agricultural intensification and that population growth causes agricultural growth. (This idea is presented in The Conditions of Agricultural Growth The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure 1965. ) It also suggests that a country must improve its technology to be able to support the growing population, and that many technologies will not be taken advantage of if the population is not large enough. Mauritius had to build a Freeport and improve transportation to be able to maintain its population. (Jain, 2005) Chitemene system in Zambia is also one example of how Buserups theory is applicable to Africa.Chitemene system is a method of farming practiced in the Northern Province of Zambia in which fields are cleared by cutting down trees in order to make the soil fertile. This system was introduced as a result of population increase in Northern Province of Zambia. As population density increased, there was need for more food production, this led discovery of an agriculture system which could make land more fertile hence increasing food production for the growing population. Despite Boserups theory being considered as the optimum population theory it as some weaknesses in the African context.Some of these weaknesses are explained in this part of the text. Boserup did not put the law of diminishing returns into consideration when formulating her theory. Increasing labor at a fixed potion of land (increasing population density) would lead to an extent where each addition unit of labor would be adding less to output than what the previous unit added, this would reach a point where output starts decreasing. Most African countries have limited technology and hence increasing population density would lead to diminishing returns in agricult ure. (Obadan. 004. P. 99) Another weakness in Boserups theory is lack of consideration of ecological factors that arise as a result of increase in population density which affect agriculture negatively. For example in Africa, Nigeria in particular, agriculture contributed more than 75 percent of export earnings before 1970. Since then, due to population growth, however, agriculture has stagnated, mostly due to ecological factors such as drought, disease, and reduction in soil fertility. By the mid-1990s, agricultures share of exports had declined to less than 5 percent.Once an exporter of food to nearby countries, Nigeria now must import food to meet domestic demand (keet, 1994 p. 55). It is clear that certain types of fragile environments cannot support excessive numbers of people in Africa for example the Barotse flood plains in Zambia. In such cases, population pressure may not lead to technological innovations as Boserup suggested. Boserups theory does not adequately account for lack of the impact of subsidization of agriculture production by developed countries on African.Subsidization of agricultural products by developed countries leads to African agriculture products fetching low prices at the international market which in turn discourages farming in Africa despite an increase in population density. Fontanel and Touatam (2004, p. 31) gave an example of trade in cotton. Without financial subsides from the government, the price of cotton production in the United States would be three times higher than the cotton production in most sub-Saharan Africa.Because of subsides to cotton producers in the United States and European union in 2001/2002, Africa had lost in that period US $920 million (Miroudot, 2004 47). Boserups theory does not also account for the comflicts in some African states which hinder agricultural activities such as farming hence making them depend on foreign aid rather than domestically produced products. Ayttey (1998, p. 193) writes that in 1996, more than 20 million of Africans were refugees. These people, who have lost their homes, jobs, and possessions, should be the ones to go to school, grow food, or work in factories and government and business administration.This has greatly contributed to the low food output levels in these countries. Boserups idea is based upon field studies in south east Asia and she developed her idea based on the number of assumptions, her ideas are not much applicable in Africa which the population is sparse since her field work was conducted in places with very high population densities like india. In conclusion, Boserups population theory may not alone fully explain the relationship between population growth, environment and technology but most importantly it has offered a complementary perspective to other theories.The theory has offered applicable solutions on the relationship between population growth and resources especially in Africa. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ayittey, G. 1998. Africa In Chao s, St. Martins press. New York Boserup, E. 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Allen and Unwin, London. Boserup, E. 1981. Population and Technological Change. Chicago press, Chicago. Boserup, E. 1990. Economic and Demographic Relationships in Development. The John Hopkins University press. London. Ehrlich, P. 1968. The Population Bomb Ballantine. New York. Fontanel, J. and Touatam, A. 2004. The Rift. African Geopolitics. No. 13. Paris. OR. IMA INTERNATIONAL.Pp. 29-42. Keet, D. 1994. Systematic Destruction IMF/World Bank Social Engineering in Africa. Track Two. The centre for intergroup studies. Vol. 2. No. 1. Pp. 10-11. Obadan, M. 2004. The External Debt Crisis Strategies and policies. In African Development and Governance strategies in the 21st century. London . Zed Books. Pp. 140-164. Simon, J. 1981. The Ultimate Resource Princeton university press. New Jersey. Aldine. (1965, 08 03). Women, Development and the UN. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from wikipedia http//www. wikipedi a. com Jain, D. (2005, 03 16). ester buserup. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from enotes. com http//www. enotes. com