Developing nations to be dependent on world mkts: UN

NEW YORK: Despite farm production expanding faster in developing countries than in developed economies, the poorest nations will be increasingly dependent on world markets and thus more vulnerable to price fluctuations as their own growth is not keeping pace with their population increase, according to a new UN study.

The joint study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the 30-member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of industrialized nations calls for greater investment in education, training and infrastructure in poor nations to improve production capacity.

Brazil, India and China are increasingly important in shaping the future of world agricultural trade, according to the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2006-2015.

In developing countries as a whole rising incomes and increasing urbanization are changing people's diets, leading to greater demand for and imports of meat and processed foods in particular, but also for the animal feed needed for their production.

Growing market opportunities in certain developing countries are coupled with a shift in production and exports of farm commodities away from OECD countries towards other developing economies.

This is expected to increase over the next 10 years and as a result global competition among exporters will get tougher, the report says.

The traditional main wheat exporters-- Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union (EU) and the United States-- are likely to maintain their dominant positions.