G8 agrees €15bn fund to help feed world’s poor

BARACK Obama and fellow rich nation leaders have unveiled a $20 billion (€14.3bn) fund to help feed the developing world.

On the last day of the G8 summit in Italy, the US president and his peers tried to answer criticism they had turned their backs on those most vulnerable to the global economic crisis and held talks with African leaders.

As Obama prepared to embark on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa, delegates said he played a key role in persuading around 30 countries to bankroll a fund aimed at helping smallholder farmers increase crop yields.

It was initially expected the fund would total $15bn (€10.bn), but Obama said that figure had now reached $20bn.

The US will reportedly stump up around $3.5bn and Japan and the European Union between $3-4bn each.

“We have committed to investing $20bn in food security, agricultural development programmes to help fight world hunger. This is in addition to the aid we provide,” said Obama.

“Going into the meeting we had agreed to €15bn. We exceeded that mark and obtained an additional five billion of hard commitments.”

The fund signifies a shift in focus away from food aid towards practical help for local agriculture.

“We believe that the purpose of aid must be to create the conditions where it’s no longer needed to help people become self-sufficient, provide for their families, and lift their standards of living,” said Obama.

Kanayo Nwanze, head of UN agricultural agency IFAD, was among those who welcomed the launch, saying the plan represented a “shift from food aid — which is like providing medication after the child is ill — to providing assistance to help the countries... produce food by themselves.”

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was an urgent need for action to combat the hunger “that is now gripping over a billion people” worldwide. “It’s unacceptable that today people should go hungry in a climate as fertile as ours.”

Aid agency Oxfam had initially bemoaned the amount of time devoted to Africa at the summit but later said the G8 and other leaders had “upped their game.

“Much of this funding is recycled, but the new money makes a downpayment on eliminating hunger,” said spokesman Gawain Kripke.

Bono, a longtime Africa aid campaigner, hailed Obama’s contribution.

“Of all the enemies of civilisation, hunger is the dumbest, the most mocking of all we hold true,” said the U2 frontman. “We are delighted President Obama has returned to this, the most fundamental of rights, with a stimulus package for the agricultural sector that is smart and innovative. But he can’t do it alone.”

At the talks, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called for a freeze of repayments on loans to African countries. He asked the rich countries to “arrange a temporary freeze on African debt” and to extend credit to the continent on preferential rates.

Obama, whose father was Kenyan, and his wife Michelle, a descendant of African slaves, left for Ghana last night on the first visit to sub-Saharan Africa by a black US president.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Italian police deployed along the route of a march by anti-globalisation protesters towards the summit venue.

Around 3,000 protesters set off from Paganica, where one of dozens of tented camps have been set up to house victims of the devastating April 6 earthquake.

The three-day summit, which wrapped up yesterday, was dominated by the global downturn and disagreements over how to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Obama said the world’s biggest economies had reached a “historic consensus” on cutting pollution, saying rich nations had a duty to set an example, as the leaders also agreed to shun protectionism.