"Explain the economic relationships between land use and a growing population"?

Question

I have no idea what to write...
(for two marks)

Answer 1

The Malthus theory outlined by the previous answer is valid only with assumptions that, mercifully, no longer apply in the real world. Most importantly -- that there are no (or no affordable) food imports, little or no outward migration, and little or no economic opportunities outwith agriculture. Such conditions may have applied in Britain in the sixth century and in Ireland in the late 1840s but even in Zimbabwe do not seem to apply today.

In countries such as the US and UK, where the primary cause of population growth is migration attracted by economic opportunity in the tertiary sector, the only relationship to land use is the tendency for urban development to spread onto land that was previously in agricultural, waste, or otherwise non-urban. In the UK this tendency is severely hampered by planning regulations which sustain Green Belts around cities, restrict or prevent the creation of new towns and the expansion of villages, and encourage the redevelopment of "brownfield" sites.

In a typical poor developing country such as the CAR, Kenya or Zambia, the effect of population growth is to encourage the expansion of the area of crop-farmed land at the expense of land used by pastoralists and of land not used by humans or used only by forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers. Conflicts with the conservation interests of wild animals (and plants) are often intensively felt. (This kind of pressure, leading to conflict between pastoralists and crop-farmers, is one of the causes of the war in Darfur, Sudan.) The desire for expansion of crop farming can to some extent be accommodated by intensification of farming rather than extending the land area used. Intensification means such choices as using higher-yielding seed varieties, more precise harnessing of water (e.g. drip-feed irrigation), and increased use of pesticides.

Answer 2

As a growing population tries to work a fixed supply of land, the marginal product of labor will fall and agricultural output will fail to increase in line with population. The food supply per capita will fall until starvation started to reduce population to the level that could be fed from the given supply of agricultural land. This theory was developed by Thomas Malthus in late 18th century.

Answer 3

Is this an a level or degree question?

Hope you get some good answers but for heavens sake don't ask a government minister as we seem to have got it hopeslessly wrong in this country.

I remember a similar question 30 years ago when I sat my economics A level. Cannot remember my reply.

Good luck