The above article is good just to read… I know you are trying to be an optimist… but, before coming to any comclusion, below are the comments by BUSH as he exactly said…

“Prosperity in countries like India is ‘good’ but it triggers increased demand for ‘better nutrition’, which in turn leads to higher food prices. “We don’t have a scarcity issue in America…We got a price issue. Our shelves aren’t going empty, it’s just costing more money,” Bush said. “There is scarcity in the world, and I happen to believe when we find people who can’t find food we ought to help them find it,” he said adding, “America is by far the most generous nation when it comes to helping the hungry.”

“We’re an unbelievably compassionate nation,” he said. “I think we ought to change our food policy in Africa and other developing countries…buying food directly from farmers as opposed to giving people food. I think we ought to be saying, ‘Why don’t we help you be able to deal with scarcity by encouraging your farmers to grow and be efficient growers? Otherwise, we’re going to be in this cycle forever.”

Condoleezza Rice’s said “‘Apparent improvement’ in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps is among the causes of the current global food crisis.”

The whole concept they are trying to derive is that people in Asia suddenly flourised and started having more food which is a concern for them…

Ms. Reyes, I know you are in Phillipines, it’ll be hard for you to digest this or better for you to understand if you are in INDIA.

Bush is not pointing the actual reason why there is this food crisis… INDIA knows the reason… below is the reply given by the Govt of INDIA…

Defense Minister A.K. Antony termed Bush’s contention that growing demand for food grains in India was responsible for spiraling global food prices as a “cruel joke.” “Large-scale conversion of agricultural land for commercial purposes, especially bio-fuel cultivation, has resulted in food shortage at the global level,” Antony said yesterday on the sidelines of a convention in Thiruvananthapuram in the southern state of Kerala. “US policies are also responsible for the food grain shortage,” he said. “Those who criticize should not set apart agricultural land for other purposes. The countries, including America, should rectify their mistakes,” Antony said.
Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said: “Bush has never been known for his knowledge of economics. And he has just proved once again how comprehensively wrong he is. To say that the demand for food in India is causing increase in global good prices is completely wrong.”

“India is a not a net food importer. It is a food exporter. The assumption that local prices are increasing because of a changed India is completely erroneous,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said. “The crisis is actually because of diversion of arable land in the developed world for ethanol production and because of changes in the climate pattern,” he said.

“The US policy of subsidizing and promoting bio fuel out of crops is the major reason for shortages and spurt in food prices,” according to Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Prakash Karat. “US policies are to be blamed for all major crises facing the world,” Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary D. Raja said.

At a seminar on global economy in Missouri, Bush was quoted by the media as saying: “There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That’s bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”

But Bush’s analysis has no takers in India. Figures released by the US Department of Agriculture for 2007 say each Indian eats only 178 kg of grain in a year, while a US citizen consumes 1,046 kg. Likewise, milk consumption per person per year is 36 kg in India, while in the United States is 78 kg. While each American consumes 45.5 kg poultry meat per year, an Indian takes in only 1.9 kg. Besides, while the US per capita grain consumption rose from 946 kg in 2003 to 1,046 kg in 2007, India’s per capita consumption remained static during this period.