Land-based limitations and threats to world food production

Abstract

The decreasing availability of new productive lands for agricultural use combines with many threats of degradation to lands now In productive use to pose serious challenges to scientists, planners and policy makers who aim to meet the ever expanding demand for food, fodder, fuel, and fibre around the globe. Constraints to productive land use may be physical or biological, natural or man-made. All prevent the realization of high and sustainable production goals, pdrticularly in the developing and less developed countries. Climate, topographic and water supply constraints are, in general, less manageable than are soil-based constraints; these can be alleviated by an abundance of available technologies. The current emphasis towards agricultural sustainability is very timely for countering the threats of degradation to the availability and productivity of land resources as well as the quality of the environment.