EU to send €1bn to help world’s poorest farmers

NON-EU farmers in poor countries are to get €760m extra from the EU to help them increase production — but not from unused Common Agriculture Policy spending, as had first been proposed last July.

In the summer, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso first proposed the aid, after soaring world food prices left the EU with a surplus of unspent agricultural subsidies.

However, Germany and other countries complained that these funds should be returned to member states.