Increased land productivity or expanded area as a mean for increasing food production in developing countries?

Abstract

Two strategies are adopted for increasing food production in the world. The developed countries concentrated on increasing land productivity while land area for food crops is maintained fairly constant or reduced over the past two decades. This approach is taken mainly because expansion of arable area in the developed countries is hardly possible, unless existing land use pattern is altered. In the developing countries, increased food production is significantly due to expanded land area rather than increased productivity. Yields of cultivated crops are poor and are below world average though natural conditions, especially in the humid tropics, are conducive for increased productivity. It is suggested that developing countries could do well to adopt the strategy of the developed countries for increasing their food production. This change could only occur with changes of the existing farming practices. Factors affecting productivity are discussed.