The comments of Bush or Rice on the increased food consumption of developing world deserves no further comments. It is not worth it. America still remains locked within its four walls but a little shocked though. It is only slowly emerging from its insolence.
When a country is progressing it is only natural that the food consumption increases and there is no way we can ask its citizens to stop or curb their craving for food so that developed nations can continue to indulge and find new means to tackle obesity. But if developed nations are using their precious grains to create fuel to maintain their SUV’s then it needs to be checked immediately. There is no use turning a blind eye to obvious facts. It is time the world leaders told their citizens in plain language to take care. Yet the fact is that developed nations still stand to gain from exports of their food grains.
As for India, it is time we took our bread more seriously. We are lacking in basic infrastructure, food being the main one. The farmers need to be treated more kindly.
Even India needs bio-fuels to meet the ever increasing price of oil but the government needs to bring strict measures so that no cultivable land meant for food grains are converted for bio-fuel needs.
In India we have the best candidate, the Jatropha tree. Goldman Sachs recently cited Jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. I believe the best way would be to continue using the vast stretch of land by the side of our railway lines and also our national highways. I am sure this would be enough to meet a part of our energy demands. But the cultivation of such bio-fuel sources should be under the strict government supervision that will ensure that no agricultural land is converted.
