The European Union (EU) is ready to channel funds to developing countries so that they can improve their agricultural production, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said on Thursday.
She and the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid and development, Louis Michel, will present an aid package next Tuesday, Boel told a press conference.
Boel said the EU agriculture budget will have surpluses this year and next year, as the EU spends little on market interventions and export refunds as a result of rising food prices.
The surpluses can be made available to farmers in developing countries for buying seeds and fertilizers so that production can be improved, she said.
By doing so, the EU wants to send a clear signal to farmers in developing countries that the EU is ready to help, Boel said, without unveiling the actual amount of the agriculture budget surpluses.
Speaking at a conference on food prices earlier Thursday, Boel said development aid in the agricultural sector has been marginalized for more than 20 years. "We need to make up for this," she said.
Source: Xinhua
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