RIO DE JANEIRO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Wednesday responded to critics of the country's biofuel program who accuse the country of putting fuel before food, causing agriculture commodity prices to soar.

    "Do not tell me that food is currently expensive because of bio-diesel. Food is expensive because the world was not prepared to see millions of Chinese eat, millions of Indians eat, millions of Africans eat, millions of Brazilians and Latin Americans eat three meals a day," said the president in a speech in Brasilia.

    Lula said he would never favor any bio-fuel policy that could lead to a reduction in the production of food. Brazil's bio-diesel and ethanol programs have come in for particular criticism.

    The Brazilian leader also criticized developed countries for trying to give "hints" to Brazil and other developing countries from a distance, saying "it is important to come here to know how we live and to acknowledge the production potential that we have."

    According to President Lula, there are currently 1 billion people worldwide that do not ingest the basic proteins and calories, and suggested that wealthy countries would better help poor countries by reducing agricultural subsidies.

    "Poor countries could produce and sell to the European market and to the United States. They (the U.S. and Europe) do not want to do that, and that is why they halt (the progress of) the Doha Round," he added, referring to the proposal to cut subsidies to the developed countries' agriculture sector, which has been negotiated at the World Trade Organization since 2001.