Reuters | Sat Jun 6, 2009
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 6 (Reuters) - Russia and other ex-Soviet countries could boost world food supply by encouraging more private investment, the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Saturday.
The EBRD believes at least 13 million hectares of former farmland could be returned to production across Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries. Just under half of this land is in Russia.
"The investments remain enormous. Under the current circumstances such financing is difficult to obtain," EBRD President Thomas Mirow told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the World Grain Forum in St Petersburg.
Medvedev said Russia, the world's third-largest wheat exporter, was ready to devote financial resources to strengthen its position on world grain markets. Last week he said Russia supported long-term foreign investment in its agriculture.
The world's No. 5 grain producer also plans to raise its output by some 25 percent to 133-136 million tonnes a year in the coming years to contribute to global food security.
The EBRD, state-owned by 61 countries, believes poor infrastructure, such as limited capacity on railways and grain elevators, as well as unclear legislature, are hurdles to unlocking the countries' enormous food potential.
"The (financial) crisis has enhanced the role of the state and one of the lessons will be that a functioning market needs good and workable regulations," Mirow said.
Last week Medvedev said Russia intended to enter Southeast Asian markets and to diversify its export mix by raising its share of processed grain products, specifically flour and groats. (Editing by Keiron Henderson)
