Washington, July 2 - The Group of Eight rich nations should double agriculture investments in developing countries to help the poor produce more, a senior farm-state lawmaker said on Wednesday.
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, unveiled a framework for leaders from the G8 countries, who meet in Japan this month, that he believes will promote global food security as prices for staple food commodities soar.
"As we respond to the current food crisis with emergency assistance, we should recognize that this is more than a short-lived confluence of single events," Lugar told a conference held by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.
"Developing more advanced and locally appropriate farming technologies is essential to increase farm yields," he said.
Lugar also pushed for increased investments in education through a global network of agricultural schools.
Lugar rejected the prediction from 19th century British economist Thomas Malthus that population growth will be checked by natural limits to farm and food production.
"We do have the intellectual ability, the scientific ability to produce a whole lot more," Lugar said. "The question will be do we have the political skills."
The World Bank estimates that $10 billion in short-term funding will be needed for emergency food aid and to help countries cope with higher prices.
The United States, the world's largest donor of food aid, has already boosted funding for food aid and food security for this year and next. But some believe the response from industrialized nations has fallen short.
"The international community's response to date is not commensurate with the challenges that developing countries face in this crisis," Asma Lateef, director of the Bread for the World Institute, told the conference.
Lugar, an advocate of major reforms of U.S. farm programs, called for a phasing out of subsidies and trade barriers to give developing nations equal footing in global trade -- an issue stalling an agreement in the Doha Round.
Liberalized trade is especially important as some countries, fearing food shortages, move to restrict exports, said Anne Krueger, a professor at John Hopkins University.
"The estimate is that you could offset about 30 percent of the run-up in prices today if you could get an international agreement so you would not have any bans and you would have people operating at the world price," she said.