There is also the issue that food is not free and people starving can't pay for it.

Which fuels corruption. Charity imports tons of food for the poor, only to be intercepted by someone in the government and resold for profit. I admit that's a generalisation and I have no idea what actually happens. I've only read that the food has a very hard time making it to those who need it most. Which is why I applaud Gates' charity for rethinking it and trying to get to the root of the problem.

I honestly think this is an oversimplification.

1. Food is free for the starving in many places around the world.

2. Where it isn't free, a meal of rice and beans is usually within reach of even the poorest.

3. Where it is out of reach of the poor, it may be due to corruption; ie North Korea redirecting food supplies to the army instead of the public, and withholding it from prison camps.

Don't fixate on the price or you'll miss the forest for the trees.

It's both corruption, and economics. A lot of places with famines are capable of being self-sufficient, in terms of food production, but it's just not profitable for farmers to grow it (And sell it domestically).

When a million people died in the Irish potato famine, it wasn't just because the United Kingdom prevented foreign aid from reaching Ireland. Ireland was the breadbasket of the empire - throughout that entire time, it was a net exporter of food.

Not to mention the fact that the fate of those children is decided before they are conceived.

It is the handiwork of the rapists that beget these children.