| dc.description.abstract | Population Geography has long identified its
methodological objectives as being the determination of the
earth's ability to support populatiol1o But development has
been largely restricted to the distributional aspects of
demographic characterization , Such attempt s as have been
made to meet the ideals have been general considerations of
the problem
This work follows Stamp's lead in approaching the
problem through nutrition The validity of measuring the
nutritional status of populations in calories alone is questioned
but found generally satisfactory £or Western and
Central Kenya A measure termed the Calorie Adequacy Index
is developed which relates the population theoretically supportable
on given agricultural production to the actual population The Calorie Adequacy Index shows the potential of
calorie consumption in an area dependent on home production
of food , and can be related to the adequacy of other nutrients The Calorie Adequacy Index can be used to compare
the self-sufficiency of areas in food production but it
becomes less meaningful the more an area relies on external.
food sources It is most useful in comIBring subsistence
economies though it cannot indicate the origin of such differences
as may be found to existo
However 9 it is shown that the Calorie Adequacy
Index fairly closely reflects che per capita producti vity of
food which is itself a reflection of population pressure on
land planted in foodcropso To a lesser extent, it also
reflects land productivity'i1with productivity of calories
per cultivated foodcrop acre and the Calorie Adequacy Index
declining as population pressure on cultivated foodcrop land
decreaseso
Whilst the Calorie Adequacy Index is at the moment
a measure of pressure of population on home production of
food there are grounds for believing that further develop
ment of the concept might yield a more useful index measuring
the relationship between population and the total resources available
for its support. | en |
