Widespread starvation in countries such as India, Bangladesh, and those bordering the Sahelian desert, and rapidly rising retail food prices in the developed nations, have led to doubts about the ability of the world's agriculture to cope with present and future food needs. These events provide new support for the pessimistic Malthusian viewpoint that the world population will only be able to sustain itself if some major catastrophe occurs, such as widespread famine caused by "acts of God" or otherwise.