G-8 farm ministers predict sharp rise in cereal prices+

CISON DI VALMARINO, Italy, April 19 Kyodo -
Farm ministers from the Group of Eight nations will indicate their recognition
that cereal prices are likely to rise sharply in the future in a joint
statement to be issued Monday, Japanese government sources said Sunday.

They will also stress the need to step up farm production while expanding
agricultural investment in the statement to be released after their three-day
meeting in Cison di Valmarino, Italy, according to the sources.
In the statement, they will also show their readiness to map out measures
against erratic fluctuations in cereal prices caused by speculative money, and
to develop an international storage system.
The statement will be reflected at the G-8 summit meeting in Italy in July. The
G-8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the
United States.
On Saturday, meanwhile, the G-8 farm ministers and their counterparts from
eight other countries emphasized at an extended meeting that small-scale
farmers must be supported in increasing production amid a downturn in
agricultural investment due to the global financial crisis.
On the first day, G-8 ministers initially met on their own before the talks
were expanded to include other countries such as Australia, Brazil, China,
Egypt and South Africa, conference officials said.
In the expanded meeting, India explained its measures to support its numerous
small-scale farmers, while countries including Mexico, China and Brazil said
family-run farms will play an important role in increased production.
Crop prices in the global marketplace had shot up until around last summer,
when the global economic slowdown capped the rises.
Ahead of the expanded talks, Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Minister Shigeru Ishiba met separately with his Italian counterpart, Luca Zaia,
and Jacques Diouf, director general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization.
The gathering of the G-8 farm ministers, the first of its kind, was agreed on
at last year's G-8 summit in the Japanese lakeside resort town of Toyako,
Hokkaido.
==Kyodo