<table> </table> C.W. Gusewelle in his article &#8220;Farmers Shouldn&#8217;t Reap Blame&#8221; (<em>The Star, </em>May 4), is quite correct when he says that countries like Zaire, Nigeria and Zimbabwe could have been rich if they had the right political leadership.</p><p>He is also correct in saying that much of the Third World has seen a population shift from rural areas to urban areas, and there has been runaway population growth.</p><p>Countries like Zaire, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have basically been political and economic failures since they achieved independence many years ago.</p><p>Food prices have increased rapidly because of oil prices, diversion of food crops and agricultural land to the production of biofuels, and long-term drought in food-exporting countries like Australia.</p><p>These three factors have occurred in the recent past and could safely be associated with the rise in food prices.</p><p>I&#8217;m not asking the farmer to take less for his crop. I just don&#8217;t want the U.S. government to create an artificial market for biofuels like ethanol, which in reality is not the answer to our problems.</p><p>If the government is so hot about ethanol, why not import sugar-cane ethanol from Brazil without levying punitive duties/tariffs, etc.?</p><p>Recently President Bush made a statement to the effect that because of improved economic conditions, more Indians are demanding nutritious food and therefore food prices have increased sharply.</p><p>India&#8217;s economy has been improving over several years. This is not a recent phenomenon. Improved economic conditions do lead to an increase in demand for more nutritious and richer food.</p><p>The vegetarian Indians will demand more fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products. The non-vegetarians will demand the same, plus meat, mostly goat meat and chicken.</p><p>Sure, the poorest of the poor may switch to wheat, from coarse grains, as in northern India. The southern Indians are rice-eaters and never consumed coarse grains like millet.</p><p>Even the people switching over will first demand more vegetables, fruits and lentils rather than wheat. Many will not even like the taste of wheat, so they will stick with the traditional coarse grains like millet.</p><p>I think we could safely call President Bush&#8217;s and Condoleezza Rice&#8217;s theory &#8220;barnyard manure.&#8221; This leads us back to the initial conclusion I mentioned as being the prime factors driving the increase in food crops.