he Battalion
TATE & LOCAL
Tuesday, October 2,1990
IS
asto!
i of
•onfu
thai
ickeii
d
iiretif
le
dckes
ms.
lis
)an
:kets-.
Distribution improvements needed
Growing ‘population monster’ will eat away world food supply
By SUZANNE CALDERON
Of The Battalion Staff
Improvements are needed in food production
and distribution, especially in Third World coun
tries, to meet nutrition needs of the growing “po
pulation monster.”
Dr. Norman Borlaug, a Texas A&M professor
of international agriculture, reiterated ideas
about improving the food supply during a Mon
day morning presentation for a graduate-level
range science class.
Borlaug said there are 5.3 billion people in the
world, with a growth rate of about 1.8 percent a
year — meaning 182 people are born every min
ute.
Borlaug is a 1970 Nobel Prize winner for his
work using principles of modern agricultural sci
ence to help Third World farmers.
“What was adequate food last year is not nec
essarily adequate food this year, unless we are
carrying in storage or are capable of expanding
production to meet the increase that is de-
“lt looks simple on the surface
—if we have these surpluses,
why can't they be
distributed?”
— Dr. Norman Borlaug,
Texas A&M professor
manded by the additional popualtion growth,”
Borlaug said.
Some areas have an overabundance of food
with people consuming more than they need,
while there is a food shortage, and people are un
der-fed in other areas.
Progress has been made in some areas to bal
ance the inequality, but the problem gets more
complicated with the way the food is distributed
to countries needing it, he said.
“It looks simple on the surface — if we have
these surpluses, why can’t they be distributed?”
he asked.
One problem is most nations needing surplus
food — often grain — have either no foreign ex
change or limited foreign exchange to buy the
excess grain, he said.
Once the grain is imported, the problem of
distribution arises.
Along with distribution problems due to pop
ulations scattered in remote locations, most peo
ple in these places are poor and can’t afford the
grain, he said.
Several changes need to be made to deal with
these problems and keep the food system compa
tible with the population size, he said.
Credit needs to be available to Third World
farmers for buying grains, he said, and pricing
should be reasonable for peasant farmers. Sci
ence and technology advances also must be made
accessible to farmers.
The possibilities for agriculture to grow and
new food strains to be made available to end food
shortages are endless, he says.
“Agriculture is a progressive discovery of our
own ignorance.”
Crime Stoppers hunt
for hints in theft case
Brazos County Crime Stoppers
needs information about an indi
vidual wanted for felony theft
and failure to appear in court for
the theft.
Michael Lee Curtiss can be
identified by the following char
acteristics:
Race: White
Sex: Male
Date of birth: 12/11/67
Height: 5 foot 6 inches
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Tattoos: Right arm — woman’s
head; left shoulder — “CUR
TISS”
This week the Bryan Police De
partment and Crime Stoppers
needs help in locating the person
responsible for this theft.
If you have information that
could be helpful, call Crime Stop
pers at 775-TIPS. When you call.
Crime Stoppers will assign you a
coded number to protect your
identity.
If your call leads to an arrest,
Crime Stoppers will pay you
$250.
Michael Lee Curtiss
BATTIPS
Anyone with story suggestions can
call BATTIPS, The Battalion’s
phone line designed to improve
communication between the news
paper and its readers.
The BATTIPS number is 845-
3315.
Ideas can include news stories,
feature ideas and personality pro
files of interesting people.
Violent crime in Texas soars;
officials unsettled by statistics
AUSTIN (AP) — Although total
crime in Texas dropped slightly dur
ing the first half of the year, violent
crime soared by more than 14 per
cent, the Texas Department of Pub
lic Safety reported Monday.
“We were pleased to see a de
crease in the total number of crimes,
but the increase in violent crime in
Texas is unsettling,” Col. Joe E.
Milner, DPS director, said.
Overall crime in the state was
down 2 percent in the first six
months of the year from the first
half of 1989, according to the DPS.
Milner said it was the “most signifi
cant” decrease since 1983, when re
ported crimes dropped by 3.5 per
cent.
But violent crime was up in all cat
egories — murder, rape, robbery
and aggravated assault.
Murders rose by 7.7 percent,
rapes by 12 percent, robberies by
14.7 percent and assaults by 14.6
percent, the DPS reported.
Overall, the total number of
crimes reported during the six-
month period was 646,545, down 2
percent from the 659,779 total in the
first half of 1989.
The decrease in total crimes re
ported was due to dropoffs in two of
the three categories of property
crimes — burglaries and thefts.
According to the DPS, burglaries
fell 7.7 percent and thefts were
down 3.1 percent. Motor vehicle
theft rose 5 percent, however.
Milner said it was difficult to ex
plain the changes.
“There is always speculation as to
why crime tends to go up and down.
Many variables enter into statewide
crime patterns, but in the final anal
ysis no one really knows,” he said.
The state’s crime rate — the num
ber of crimes per 100,000 citizens —
dropped 3.2 percent during the pe
riod from 3,931.9 for the first half of
1989 to 3,805.2 during the first half
of this year.
Drug arrests fell by 8.2 percent
overall, although arrests for the sale
and manufacturing of drugs in
creased slightly from 5,558 to 5,569.
The DPS noted a 1 percent in
crease in major crimes cleared dur
ing the first half of the year, from 20
percent to 21 percent.
Mental health patient
unable to care for child
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
Rick Perry, Republican Agriculture Commissioner candidate,
speaks to A&M students Monday in the Grove.
AUSTIN (AP) — A 32-year-old
Lubbock woman is about to become
an unfit mother.
The woman, who has an IQ of 12,
was raped last spring while under
the care of the Texas Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retarda
tion.
Six months after the rape, the
state and police have not determined
who is the father of the unborn
child, which is at risk for birth de
fects because of potent anti-seizure
drugs the woman receives.
An abortion that state doctors rec
ommended never was performed
for reasons that no one explained to
the family, the Austin American-
Statesman reported Sunday.
An investigation by the newspa
per found that state school officials
violated mental health department
rules by failing to immediately notify
law enforcement agencies of a sexual
assault.
fn Advance
V *'> - i-
TAMU Overseas Day hosted in MSC today
The Texas A&M Study
Abroad office is hosting the
TAMU Overseas Day today in the
MSC main hallway.
Information representing va
rious study abroad programs will
be available from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. at tables in the MSC.
The following programs will be
represented: Butler University in
the United Kingdom and Austra
lia, Council on International Ex
change, Vienna, Ireland and
Greece program (Beaver Col
lege), American Youth Hostel,
MSC Jordan Institute for over
seas loans and an A&M Student
Financial Aid representative.
Other programs include West
Germany, England, Dominica,
Italy and the France, Soviet
Union and Spain program.
MBA LAW
rS c Q M M I T T E ¥
PRESENTS
LAW
DAY
WEDNESDAY,
OCTOBER 3
BLOCKER BLDG.
ALL DAY
FIFTY-ONE SCHOOLS
BUSINESS DAY OCT. 11
MBA/LAW SYMPOSIUM NOV. 10
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 845-1515
MSC VISUAL ARTS
PROUDLY PRESENTS
by Timothy Vanya
Memorial Student Center
Visual Arts Gallery
On display from October 1 to October 31, 1990
Reception will be held on October 2, 1990 from 7:00-8:00pm