Food Summit Fails to Agree on Biofuels

World leaders last night ended a summit on the global food crisis without an agreement on biofuels, leaving unadopted a plan to ensure the crops are not produced at the expense of the world's 850 million hungry.

A draft declaration warned that food prices would "remain high in the years to come" and called for "urgent and coordinated action" to alleviate the impact on the poor. However, the summit, convened to address "the challenges of climate change and bioenergy", had little to say about either.

In the face of US and Brazilian opposition to any review of ethanol production, there were only vague references to "the challenges and opportunities posed by biofuels". The declaration from the summit in Rome said: "We are convinced that in-depth studies are necessary to ensure that production and use of biofuels is sustainable."

The American agriculture secretary, Ed Schafer, has told American reporters that increasing the production of corn ethanol is "the right policy direction". Corn prices rose on the world markets throughout the last hours of the summit.

On trade, and representing a win for Britain and the US, the summit backed the rapid conclusion of the Doha round of trade liberalization, despite French reservations. Argentina objected to a line in the text calling on countries to "minimize the use of restrictive measures that could increase the volatility of international prices". The Argentinian delegate called for the removal of the word "restrictive".

European officials said the summit should not be judged on the rows over the final declaration; there was growing consensus over the need to reverse decades of under-investment in agriculture.