Most of the increase, around 95 percent, takes place in the developing world. Taking the most conservative projections for world population growth over the next 30 years, food production will need to double in order to meet minimum requirements. Yet the land available to produce this additional food is being degraded, largely as a result of deforestation, overgrazing and poor farming practices. At the same time, the availability of productive agricultural land per caput is declining in many countries because of population growth and the lack of reserves that could be brought into production. Data from 57 developing countries show that nearly 50 percent of all farms are smaller than 1 hectare in size.
Many poor farmers find that, as a result, they can no longer make a living from their land.
In the developing countries people are migrating in large numbers to towns and cities in search of paid employment and better opportunities. Nearly 70 percent of all Latin Americans now live in urban areas compared to just 30 percent or so 30 years ago. Soon, more people will live in towns and cities than in the countryside in developing countries as a whole. The young and more vigorous people tend to migrate, leaving women, children and the old to carry the burden of work. Food services have grown up to provide for city workers and others who spend most of the day far from home.