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G8 pledges $20B in farm aid to poor nations

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-10 21:03

L'AQUILA, Italy: G8 leaders pledged $20 billion in farm aid to help poor nations feed themselves, surpassing expectations on the final day of a summit that has yielded little progress on climate change and trade.

The United States used the meeting of world leaders to push for a shift towards farm aid from food aid and will make $3.5 billion available to the 3-year programme. But African nations reminded the rich of the need to honour past commitments.

(L-R) France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, US President Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi stand during a family photo at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy July 10, 2009. [Agencies]

"On food security we managed a commitment that mobilises $20 billion," Italian G8 sherpa Giampiero Massolo said on Friday. That was $5 billion more than originally floated over the 3 years.

The United Nations says the number of malnourished people has risen over the past two years and is expected to top 1.02 billion this year, reversing a four-decade trend of declines.

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"Food aid is necessary because we have people suffering from drought, from flood, from conflicts and what they want is immediate food to eat," Jacques Diouf, head of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said at the L'Aquila summit.

"But if we have to feed 1 billion hungry people, we have to help them produce their own food," he told Reuters

After two days of talks focused on the economic crisis, trade and global warming, the final day of the meeting in Italy looked at problems facing the poorest nations.

G8 leaders promised in Gleneagles in 2005 to increase annual aid by $50 billion by 2010, half of which was meant for African countries. But aid bodies say some G8 countries have gone back on their word, especially this year's G8 host, Italy.

African leaders said they would voice their concerns, with Ethiopian premier Meles Zenawi telling Reuters: "The key message for us is to ask the G8 to live up to their commitments."

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