Role of Plant Nutrition in Food Security: Achievements, Aspirations and Action Plan

Abstract

It took almost 3 lakhs of years for the world human population to reach one billion mark in 1804 since we started evolving as hunter-gatherer and only another 220 years to reach 8 billion. According to projections, the world’s population will peak at roughly 10.3 billion people by 2084, having grown to 9.7 billion by 2050 (World Population Prospects 2024). Another 216 years from 2084 until 2300, world population is projected to be around 9-10 billion (World Population to 2300, 2024). In India, human population of 1 lakh during 10000 BC reached 0.18 billion in 1800 and took another 200 years only to reach 1 billion mark by the birth of Aastha Arora on 11 May 2000 in Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. In another 23 years, India’s population grew from 1 billion to 1.42 billion in 2023 (McEvedy and Colin 1978). India made history in May 2023 when it surpassed China to take the top spot in the world’s population.It is projected to reach 1.68 billion in 2050 and is expected to peak around 1.69 billion in 2054 and then will decline to 1.5 billion in 2100.The kind of population growth in India made Winston Churchill to attribute the Bengal Famine of 1943 to the alleged tendency of Indians to “breed like rabbits” (Jean and Sen 2002).