G8 pledges £12 bln in farm aid

By Phil Stewart and Daniel Flynn

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - G8 leaders pledged $20 billion (12.3 billion pounds) in aid on Friday to help poor nations feed themselves, surpassing expectations of a summit that made little ground on climate change and may spell the end of the G8 itself.

U.S. President Barack Obama and the summit's Italian host Silvio Berlusconi reflected growing consensus that the Group of Eight industrial powers, long criticised as an elite club, does not reflect the shifting patterns of global economic power.

Tackling global challenges "in the absence of major powers like China, India and Brazil seems to be wrongheaded," Obama said, adding that he looked forward to "fewer summit meetings."

Begun in 1975 with six members, the G8 now groups the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia and Canada. The Italians made it a "G14" with emerging powers on the second day, then added 15 more on the third.

That enabled Obama, travelling to Ghana on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president, to use the summit to push for a shift towards agricultural investment from food aid. Washington will make $3.5 billion available to the 3-year programme.

"There is no reason Africa should not be self-sufficient when it comes to food," said Obama, recalling that his relatives in Kenya live "in villages where hunger is real," though they themselves are not going hungry.

KEEP WORD ON AFRICA

Obama said Africa had enough arable land but lacked seeds, irrigation and mechanisms for farmers to get a fair price for their produce -- issues that the summit promised to tackle.