http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=8f11157b-32fc-4415-bf4d-9423fa3a44d8&&Headline=Bush+links+high+food+prices+to+India
Bush links high food prices to demand in countries like India
Prosperity in countries like India is "good" but it triggers increased
demand for "better nutrition" which in turn leads to higher food
prices, US President George W Bush said.
The comments come close on the heels of US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice's controversial statement that "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.
At an interactive session on economy in Missouri, Bush argued that
there are many factors for the present crisis, only one of which was
investment on biofuels like ethanol.
"Worldwide there is increasing demand. There turns out to be
prosperity in developing world, which is good. It's going to be good
for you because you'll be selling products in the countries, you know,
big countries perhaps, and it's hard to sell products into countries
that aren't prosperous. In other words, the more prosperous the world
is, the more opportunity there is," the US President said.
"It also, however, increases demand. So, for example, just as an
interesting thought for you, 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," he said.
Bush also listed change in weather patterns and increase in basic
costs like that of energy as factors contributing to higher food
prices.
"No question that ethanol has had a part of it. But I simply do not
subscribe to the notion that it is the main cost driver for your food
going up," Bush said.
Several international experts have in recent days held biofuels, until
recently cast as a miracle alternative to polluting fossil fuels, for
being responsible for usurping arable land and distorting world food
prices.
"Actually, the reason why food prices are high now is because, one,
energy costs are high, and if you're a farmer, you're going to pass on
your cost of energy in the products you sell, otherwise you'd go
broke.
"And when you're paying more for your diesel, paying more for your
fertiliser because it's got a lot of, you know, natural gas in it, in
other words, when your basic costs are going up, so does the cost of
food," Bush said.
He said there are two aspects of rising food prices -- its effect on
US citizens and the fact that there is a food scarcity in the world.
"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."
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