God Arises
The Challenge of The Qur’an
~ 289 ~
Malthus was born in an age of ‘traditional
agriculture’. He was unable to envisage the
approach of an age of ‘scientific agriculture’, in
which amazing advances in production would
become possible. Over the 150 years since Malthus’s
death, methods of cultivation have been radically
altered. Crops under cultivation are chosen for their
particularly high yield. Cattle are able to produce a
far higher amount of dairy food than before. New
methods have been discovered to increase the
fertility of land. Modern machinery has brought
vast
new
areas
under
cultivation.
In
technologically-advanced countries of the world
there has been a 90% fall in the number of farmers:
yet at the same time a tenfold increase in
agricultural produce has taken place.
As far as the third world is concerned, 3 billion
people inhabit these under-developed countries,
but the third world also possesses the potential to
produce food for 33 billion—ten times the present
population. According to F.A.O. estimates, if the
increase in the population of the third world
continues unabated, reaching over the 4 billion
mark by the year 2000 A.D., there will still be no
