Farming subsidies worth around $500 billion doled out by governments every year must be repurposed, three UN agencies warned on Tuesday, citing the environmental and social damage they cause.
Released ahead of a UN food systems summit next week, the agencies' report is a "wake-up" for governments to rethink their agricultural support schemes, Food and Agriculture Organization director general Qu Dongyu said in a statement.
Global support to producers totals $540 billion per year, according to the joint report by the FAO, the UN Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme.
The agencies said 87 per cent of that aid -- $470 billion -- is "price distorting and environmentally and socially harmful".
"Agricultural support is not providing desirable results for sustainability and human health, but repurposing it can be a game changer," the report said.
A hefty portion of the subsidies, $294 billion per year, comes in the form of price incentives resulting from import tariffs and export subsidies, it said.
Farmers also receive $245 billion in fiscal subsidies, which can lead to "negative environmental outcomes" when they are linked to the production of a specific commodity.
This aid can prompt the overuse of agrochemicals and natural resources, and the cultivation of a single crop, according to the report.
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