Unspent EU farm aid to go to Africa

The European Union will channel 1 billion euros in unused European farm subsidies to African farmers as part of its response to the global food crisis, the head of the EU executive said on Monday.

"The EU really can give a boost to agriculture in developing countries," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on the first day of a meeting of G8 rich nations' leaders in northern Japan, where soaring food prices are high on the agenda.

The EU executive has previously outlined its intention of taking up to 1 billion euros of unspent EU farm subsidies between now and the end of 2009 and using the money for a fund for seed and fertiliser and other agriculture projects in Africa.

That money will come on top of 550 million euros that the EU has freed up in emergency aid in response to the food crisis.