G8 summit tackles food supplies

After meeting with African leaders on Friday, the G8 is expected to launch a new food security initiative that includes up to $15 billion US to help farmers in poor countries boost production.

According to a draft statement obtained by The Associated Press, the plan will be rolled out over three years.

The money pledged will be between $10-15 billion US, said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is hosting the three-day summit of the Group of Eight countries — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — in L'Aquila.

Some of the money represents previous aid pledges that G8 countries have lapsed on over the last four years. World leaders pledged in 2005 to increase annual aid levels by $50 billion by 2010, half of which was meant to go to African countries.

The draft statement is expected to be endorsed by 19 other countries also attending Friday's meetings.

The leaders of Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa joined their G8 counterparts for discussions Friday, which focused on food security, agriculture and climate change.

The investment is being called a shift in the way the world's richest countries address hunger.

The strategy is expected to enable farmers in some of the world's poorest countries to produce more of their own food by improving productivity. It represents a shift away from delivering aid and toward the notion that food security helps promote political stability.

Experts argue increasing the productivity at the world's 500 million small-holder farms — which produce 80 per cent of the food for the global population — would have a long-term impact on world hunger, regional trade and immigration.

"You're setting the foundation for transformation of communities," said Kana Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, who participated in G8 talks Friday. "It is the foundation for food security."

Nwanze said the initiative would use existing institutions rather than creating a new framework. UN food agencies as well as the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank would likely be involved, he said.