Introduction

	World Population Growth Pushing Back the Limits?		Unprecedented growth in the world's population over the past five decades has renewed debate on the ultimate "carrying capacity" of the Earth's land and water resources. The debate is important, but overlooks a crucial aspect of the problem. The world's absolute food supply is almost certainly sufficient for six billion or more people now and in the future: yet some 841 million people--nearly one-sixth of the world's population--are chronically malnourished today. The debate over carrying capacity has also ignored an important dimension of food supply: women provide much of the food grown for home consumption in the developing world. Since the bulk of their production is in the "informal sector", it is not included in food production statistics. Much of this food comes from shrinking and fragmented farmsteads, backyard gardens, even abandoned lots in the middle of cities. Most countries do little to encourage women farmers: agricultural investment and technical assistance policies assume that recipients are men, and landholding and inheritance practices are biased in their favour. At the same time, women are frequently offered little support even in their recognized role of child-bearing and rearing. Support for women's reproductive rights and reproductive health will have a decisive impact on the growth and eventual size of world population. Unless women are placed at the centre of efforts to increase food production, vital opportunities to meet the world's present and future food needs will be missed. top