The European Commission (EC) proposed on Friday to give 1 billion euros (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) to help developing countries tackle rising food prices and improve their productive capacity.
The special "facility for rapid response to soaring food prices in developing countries" would operate for two years, 2008 and 2009, the European Union's (EU) executive arm said in a statement.
It would be provided to developing countries which are most in need, based on a set of objective criteria, giving priority to supply-side measures, improving access to farm inputs such as fertilizers and seed, possibly through credit, and to safety-net measures aimed at improving productive capacity in agriculture.
The money would be in addition to existing development funds and would be taken from unused money from the EU's costly agricultural budget, including the unspent subsidies to farmers.
The EC hopes EU governments and the European Parliament will approve its proposal by November so as to put it into force in early 2009.
Source:Xinhua
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