The action plan to boost agricultural output, food market transparency and policy coordination reflected many of France's ambitious proposals for its G20 presidency this year but it fell short of calls by Paris for a tough crackdown on speculators.
The members of the group that produces 85 percent of the world's agricultural output praised France for putting the issue of food security and price volatility in the limelight, saying more talks were now needed to flesh out G20 policies.
"Are we going to solve food security at this meeting? definitely not, but it is really setting up a platform for action," Saudi Farm Minister Fahad Balghunaim told Reuters Insider Television.
French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said this was a first step. "But it's an important step. Nobody would have thought, 10 or 12 months ago that we would have been able to find an agreement among G20 members about such a sensitive issue as agriculture and price volatility," he told Reuters Insider.
Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, urged G20 heads of state to follow through on Thursday's landmark deal.
World food prices hit a record high earlier this year, reviving memories of soaring prices in 2007-08 that sparked riots in developing countries, and giving fresh urgency to the debate about how to improve a global food system that leaves some 925 million people hungry.
Corn prices had more than doubled over the previous 12 months when they hit a peak earlier this month and wheat prices had surged by around 50 percent.
Recently, grain prices have given up gains on growing concerns about the global economy and corn touched a three-month low on Thursday.
HUMANITARIAN AID
Under the deal, Group of 20 nations agreed to exclude humanitarian aid from export bans, and explore food aid stocks, measures that sources said had been among several sticky issues.
They also decided to launch a database -- known as AMIS, for Agricultural Market Information System, and housed at the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation -- to improve market transparency, despite concern from India and China about the practicality of providing data for their vast territories.
"This (AMIS) will throw light on the darkness and secrecy of reserves as you already begin to bring some order and some predictability to the international food system," Zoellick said.
But AMIS may be difficult to implement, tempered Benoit Labouille from grains consultancy ODA.
"It will be difficult for importers to communicate their stocks as they risk being at the mercy of price rises and exporting countries may fear they will push prices down if they disclose their stocks," Labouille said.
On regulation, G20 ministers "strongly encouraged" finance ministers to take decisions for better regulation of agricultural financial markets, leaving it up to them to adopt concrete measures on an issue that pits France against countries like Britain which sees little interest in more regulation.
"We recognise that appropriately regulated and transparent agricultural financial markets are indeed key for well-functioning physical markets," the G20 communique said.
Paris took a hard stance on negotiations in recent days, saying it would not sign a half-hearted deal that did not take a tough line on speculators whom President Nicolas Sarkozy blames for surging food prices and unrest in some countries.
France had wanted all G20 countries to commit themselves to imposing position limits -- a curb on how much of the market an investor can buy into.
Although members did not pledge to impose position limits, the fact that the divisive issue was mentioned in the final communique was deemed "an unexpected success" by French sources.
Sarkozy is trying hard to score victories on the global stage as he tries to lift his approval ratings from little over 30 percent 10 months before France's next presidential election.
The G20 agreement also skirted any forceful statement on biofuels, only recognizing the need for further analysis on its influence on food production.
International charity ActionAid said that was regrettable.
"As a result, more countries will follow the lead of the U.S. where 40 percent of the corn crop is burnt for fuel while the world teeters on the verge of a food crisis," said ActionAid senior policy analyst Marie Brill.
(Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas and Valerie Parent; Writing by Marie Maitre and Gus Trompiz; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Eric Onstad)
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