Pune (PTI): India on Thursday said per capita consumption of food grains in the country was less than that of the United States, and unlike America, it intends to use only "inferior" land for growing bio-fuel crops.

The per capita consumption in America was much more than that of an Indian, Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters here, while responding to a question on US President George W Bush blaming high global food prices on increased demand in countries like India and China.

According to the 'Global Food Market Report' of the Food and Agricultural Organisation, food grain consumption in the US is estimated to have increased by 11.81 per cent to 310.4 million tons in 2007-08.

In contrast, the consumption in India is estimated to have grown by mere 2.17 per cent to 197.3 million tons.

The Americans have reduced the quantum of land under wheat cultivation to switch over to the production of corn to manufacture bio-diesel that has led to the shortage of the commodity on the global scale, Pawar said.

He said India had no intention of cutting foodgrains by using agricultural land to take crop needed for bio-disel production.

"We will make use of inferior land for the purpose of bio-disel production," the minister said.