Another piece is the same issue states that, "...most pundits, agree that the world now has plenty of food: last year saw a record cereal harvest. And the investments spurred by today's high prices promise even more food in future. Even if one allows for rising demand from Asia's middle classes, the real challenge is not the volume of food available; it is the problem of food being in the wrong place and at a price the poorest cannot afford.".
Ted,

Once upon a time I was married to a USAID officer who worked PL480 (Food for Peace) in Sudan and again in Haiti. The above point was widely in play in 1984 during the Sudanese drought of that period (which by the way was every bit as bad as the drought in Ethiopia; it just did not get the coverage as the Sudanese government clamped down on access). The same held true in the 1990s with Haiti; food was available if someone could pay for it and if the population at risk could either pay for it or get someone else to do the same.

There was a glib SOB on CNN this morning--I forget his name--and he had written a book on food. They had coverage on the screen about the Haiti food riots and this guy said we have to help the poor countries produce more food. I almost threw my cup at at the screen; we (the West)--despite all the BS spouted about using assistance to maintain dependency--have been trying to do just that since WWII. (Does anyone really think the US wants Haiti as a dependant?) Haiti is a stellar example; one only has to look at overhead imagery and see what has happened to Haiti to understand why they might not be such great farmers.

My point in this ramble/rant is two fold:

A. Saying we have food, we just need to move it is to me much like saying we need to readjust post-colonial borders to reduce ethnic warfare. It sounds simple because it is in its heart simplistic. It completely ignores reality as in political and/or economic reality.

B. Saying we need to help the Third World develop food production is another simple statement that is simplistic. They know how to produce food in Sudan. They know how to produce food in Ethiopia. What they do not know how to do is adjust their political, economic, and social structures to the reality of the Sudan or Ethiopia. The Haitians ar another matter; the oldest black republic and the second oldest repblic in the Western Hemipshere, Haiti is very much the longest running crisis. At some stage, the Haitians either fix it or nature will. Nature is a harsh task master. Nature coupled with political/ethnic agendas is devastatingly cruel.

best

Tom