Food prices, inequity, and our responsibilities.

Mumbai. This editorial comes to you from India. I am reading the lead article in The Times of India. This expresses concern that the nation’s growth rate is now at the rate of 8?7 %, compared with 11?2 % last year. Imagine a newspaper in North America or Europe complaining about annual economic growth of nearly 9 %! On the same front page another headline states: ‘Grain prices rising, set to soar further’ with the subheading ‘Widening gap means 854 million go hungry’. This is worried about the impact of the rapid rise in world food grain prices (wheat prices up by 92 % between January and December 2007) is having on the number of hungry people in the world. It goes on to point out that annual North American food grain consumption is now 909 kg per person, compared with 179 kg per person in the Indian subcontinent and 552 kg in the European Union. The Times of India is also worried that India will need to import foods for the first time for many years, putting further pressure on world grain prices.