What the US President, Mr George Bush, has said about Indian consumption and food shortages may not be palatable, yet there is some truth in it. Indians have a habit of wasting food, as is obvious if one examines the garbage bins and the mountain of leftovers after feasts in marriage halls.

This year, tonnes of food-grains were lost due to unexpected rains in Kuttanad. If harvesting machines had been used in time, much food could have been saved. Another problem is that agricultural lands are being diverted for other purposes. Destruction of food-grains due to bad storage facilities is also a huge problem. Is Mr Bush responsible for all this?

Not all that Mr Bush says, however, is wrong. If we suffer from a shortage of food, we have largely ourselves to blame for the lack of long-term vision for agricultural development.

S. Raghunatha Prabhu Alappuzha

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