World: THE HOPE OF CONQUERING HUNGER

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Increased Harvests. Nonetheless, there is ample evidence that such a revolution is changing not only India but much of the world. In Pakistan (pop. approximately 135 million), where an ambitious birth control program—using such slogans as "Grow More Food, Breed Fewer Children"—has reduced the birth rate from 3.3% to 2.5%, self-sufficiency in food will be achieved this year. Vastly increased grain harvests have been gathered in the Philippines, Ceylon, Turkey and Mexico. In South Vietnam, the IR8 rice strain (TIME, June 14) has been so successful that the Viet Cong have sought to discredit it by telling peasants that it causes cancer and leprosy. Indeed, most developing countries—but not including China, because of its self-imposed, xenophobic political isolationism—are benefiting, or about to benefit, from the new crops and new techniques. By themselves, the new farming methods are, of course, not the final answer. But they do provide an urgently needed respite. "We've been able to buy some time," says U.S. Food Expert Lester Brown, "so we can study further how to control the world's population."