World food crisis

French agriculture minister calls for food production aid

Article published on the 2008-04-14 Latest update 2008-04-17 19:23 TU

European agriculture ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to discuss how to deal with the global food crisis. The prices of basic food products have soared in recent months. Shortages and the high cost of staple foods have led to violent protests in several countries.  France's Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier has called for the world to make food production its priority.  He says the market should not be so free that it denies people food.

French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier has called on the whole world to make agricultural food production a priority. His call comes amid fears that rising food prices could drive as many as 100 million people in poor countries further into poverty.

Barnier is calling for subsidies and development aid to be boosted and reoriented to encourage agricultural production.

Ahead of an EU farm ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, Barnier noted that this is an area neglected by international institutions and donor organisations in the past 30 years.

He suggested that too much arable land is being used for the production of biofuels, especially given the increasing demand for food in Asia, and claimed that the free market and speculation on commodities had contributed to the crisis.

Slovenian Agriculture Minister Iztok Jarc, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, says that food price inflation is a very serious problem for the world and for Europe.

The EU is in the midst of a broad review of its Common Agricultural Policy, also known as the CAP.