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EU
executive endorses farm aid plan
for Africa
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BRUSSELS(July
19 - 20,2008) - The European Commission backed a
plan on Friday to give 1 billion euros ($1.59 billion) to farmers
in Africa next year to help tackle high food prices and boost output,
despite opposition by many EU states.
The EU cash, largely the result of underspending and leeway in the
bloc's massive agriculture budget, comprises 750 million euros earmarked
for 2008 and the remainder for 2009. This year's amount could be given
retrospectively from mid-June.
At least eight EU member countries, including Britain, Sweden and
the Netherlands, have questioned the legality of the scheme but have
not challenged the merit of the idea.
EU ministers and the European Parliament, which has also voiced doubts
about using unspent EU farm funds, will have to agree to the plan
before it can enter into force. The Commission would like cash to
start flowing in early January 2009.
"There's a fairly broad consensus on the need to act here, given
the crisis which is taking place," Commission spokesman Johannes
Laitenberger told a daily news briefing.
"In the Commission's opinion, this is the most efficient and
most rapid instrument that could be used."
If approved, the money will be channelled to developing countries
through international or regional organisations, such as the United
Nations and World Food Programme.
Four areas of financial support are envisaged, the main two being
to improve access to farming "inputs" like fertilisers and
seeds and ways to improve agricultural capacity and production.
But the most difficult debate may come after the summer: how to set
eligibility criteria for recipient countries and how much cash will
be allocated by country. Those negotiations should be concluded by
December, the Commission says.
Criteria are expected to include how much food a country produces
to feed itself, its political stability and social vulnerability,
its level of food price inflation and reliance on food imports --
including shipments of food aid.
So far, for the 2008 farm budget, the EU has been heavily underspending
on classic market support measures such as export subsidies, public
intervention buying of staple commodities and subsidised private storage,
EU officials say.
Agriculture eats up more than 40 percent of the EU's annual budget,
which for 2008 is planned at 120.7 billion euros.
Advocacy group DATA, which campaigns to eradicate extreme poverty
and AIDS in Africa, welcomed the proposal as a way for the EU to help
struggling African farmers.
"This proposal is significant and is a serious down payment by
Europe to help smallholder farmers in Africa fight back against hunger
and poverty," DATA Executive Director Jamie Drummond said in
an email sent to Reuters.
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