Subsidy anger at hunger summit

Nearly 13 million people are on the verge of starvation in six southern African countries

ROME, Italy -- U.S. and EU agricultural policies have come under criticism from developing nations attending a summit working towards reducing hunger.

Representatives from more than 180 countries taking part in a United Nations' Food Summit in Rome adopted a non-binding resolution pledging to accelerate efforts to reduce the number of people who go hungry across the world.

But some countries lashed out at the U.S. and the European Union during the second day of the four-day summit for their protectionist agriculture policies.

Uganda's President, Yoweri Museveni, said: "Let us stop beating around the bush.

"The most fundamental problems are not the weather; are not lack of improved seeds.

"The main causes of food shortages in the world are really three: wars, protectionism in agricultural products in Europe, the USA, China, India and Japan, and protectionism in value-added products on the part of the same countries."

MORE STORIES • Q&A The food summit  • 'Distaste' at Mugabe's presence    HUNGER FACTS • About 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water   • 55% of the 12 million child deaths annually are malnutrition-related   • 20% of people in the developing world are chrobically undernourished   • 815 million people suffer hunger and malnourishment   SOURCE: FAO    QUICKVOTE Is there the political will to slash world hunger? Yes No View Results

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told Reuters that rich states should drop protection of their agriculture to enable poor countries compete in world food markets.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana was quoted by The Associated Press on Tuesday as telling the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) summit: "We don't want charity. We want an opportunity to grow."

The U.S. has come in for particular criticism in the wake of the Farm Bill it passed last month which promises billions of dollars in subsidies for agriculture.

Canada's Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief said the high level of subsidies "depresses prices and effectively shuts out producers from developing nations."

He added: "We are concerned that recent decisions in the United States are moving in the wrong direction."

Another complainant of U.S. policy is EC President Romano Prodi and EU officials -- who are already in dispute with the U.S. over President George W. Bush's decision to impose tariffs on steel imports -- who say it violates World Trade Organisation rules.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman defended her country's position. She was quoted by Reuters as saying: "We want to eliminate export subsidies.

"We want to substantially increase market access by lowering tariffs. Our tariffs are about 12 percent for food and agriculture. Around the world, such tariffs average about 62 percent. We want to substantially cut domestic supports that are trade-distorting."

But the U.S. -- which is the world's biggest food aid and development donor -- has also come under fire for failing to respond to a new proposal by the U.N. to invest an additional $24 billion a year in agricultural development.

Veneman again defended her country's stance, by saying "no specific position has been taken on that proposal."

Delegates have called for the creation of a voluntary set of guidelines to be created during the next two years to recognise the "right to food" for the world's six billion people.

The summit is an attempt to rekindle the political will which was first displayed in a declaration made at the last such summit in 1996 which pledged to halve the world's number of 840 million hungry people by 2015. (Full Story)

Despite being a third of the way in to that timetable the number of hungry has only dropped by 25 million, with war, natural disasters and indifference taking their toll.

It is feared an estimated 12.8 million people in six southern African countries are at risk of starvation because of drought, floods, government mismanagement and economic instability.

In order to hit the 1996 goal, FAO is seeking an additional $24 billion a year in agricultural and rural investment.

At present, overseas development assistance from wealthier countries totals about$68 billion, of which only $11 billion is earmarked for agriculture, against about $15 billion spent on farming in 1988.