商业报道:世界粮食危机（在线收听）

CNN's Eunice Yoon reports on the developing world's position in the debate over who is to blame for rising food prices.

In India, Food Courts, packed with middle class families, these days eating bigger meals more frequently with greater choice. To Anshul Singhal, it's a sign of the good economic times. “So it's people who are poor, and the poor are getting rich and they can afford food for two times a day.”

But some point to this prosperity, as one key cause of record high food prices. New economic power houses, like China and India are often blamed, at least in part for the current food crisis. US president George. W. Bush had pointed to growing consumer demand in India as one reason prices are going up. But many in this part of the world say the real gluttons are: Certainly the rich countries, they not only consume much more, the amount of food that you waste is just huge. He might have a point.

According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the average American eats 3,770 calories of food a day, compared to 2,940 calories in China or 2,440 calories in India. Americans are also some of the biggest consumers of beef, a food that takes a lot of energy to produce. Chinese agriculturalist Zhouli goes as far as to call the United States a quote "food imperialist ". Li says American food aid and farm subsidies discourage farmers in poorer countries from raising their own crops.

Some also blame high food prices on the international push to use grain as fuel for cars instead of food for people. American Agro-economist Lester Brown agrees and says he's not surprised / the debate over food is turning ugly. "What we are now seeing is the emergence of a politics of food scarcity, unlike anything we've seen before." And many food experts say that the blame game is set to get even uglier as nations battle it out in this global food fight/. Eunice Yoon,CNN, Beijing.