CISON DI VALMARINO - Farm ministers from the world's leading industrialised and developing nations gathered Saturday for talks on overcoming a global food crisis that could worsen in these tough economic times.

After the spike in world food prices last year, "there must be stricter rules against speculation... it is unacceptable to be able to get rich by manipulating contracts for basic goods," said Italy's agriculture chief Luca Zaia in a newspaper interview Saturday.

"The first objective must be to increase productivity in developing countries," he told the daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

The meeting of the G8 and G5 agriculture ministers is to run through Monday in Cison di Valmarino, near Treviso in the Veneto region of northeast Italy.

It follows on last year's G8 summit in Japan, where heads of state and government instructed their farm ministers to come up with concrete proposals regarding food security and to find ways to limit food price volatility.

Recession has cooled soaring prices which triggered food riots in some poorer nations last year, but officials say it is just a temporary situation. The food crisis could worsen in developing countries during the current economic downturn due to less investment in agriculture.

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), there are nearly one billion people who are underfed around the world.

The ministers are also set to discuss forming a global partnership on agriculture and food.

"The food situation is unacceptable and production will have to double by 2050 to feed a world with a population that will surpass nine billion," an official with the French delegation said.

Non-governmental organisations say they are looking for definite plans for tackling the world's food crisis to come out of the talks.

The meeting has "an important role to play and we hope the concrete decisions will be taken," especially "in support of investment in developing countries," said Chris Leather of the British charity Oxfam.

"What is essential is that the G8 countries keep their promises," said Ambroise Mazal of the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD). He noted that only 10 percent of the 22 billion dollars in aid announced at the FAO summit in Rome last June has been paid.

The Cison di Valmarino meeting will aim to draw up a document that will be put to G8 leaders at their next summit in La Maddalena, Sardinia on July 8-10, hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The Group of Eight comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, while the Group of Five takes in Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

Ministers from Argentina, Australia and Egypt, as well as officials from major international institutions such as the African Union, the FAO and the World Bank, are also attending this weekend's meeting.