Population Growth Outpaces Food Supply in Conflict-Ravaged Sahel: Study

"ROME -- The Sahel region's ability to produce food is not keeping pace with its growing population, and global warming will only exacerbate the imbalance, according to a new study.

Among the 22 countries making up the arid region in northern Africa, the population grew to 471 million in 2010 from 367 million in 2000, a jump of nearly 30 percent.

As the population grew rapidly, the production of crops remained essentially unchanged, said researchers from Lund University in Sweden.

Using satellite images to calculate annual crop production in the conflict-ridden Sahel belt, south of the Sahara Desert, the researchers then compared output to population growth and food and fuel consumption."

Chris Arsenault reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation October 20, 2014.