Agriculture ministers from the world's leading industrialized and developing nations are meeting in northern Italy for the first time in efforts to contain global food crisis.

Agriculture ministers from the Group of Eight have agreed that agriculture must be brought to the center of the international debate and there is a need for each nation to be self-sufficient in food, said Italian Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia, whose country currently holds the G8 presidency.

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

At last year's summit in Japan, the G8 agriculture ministers were asked to come up with concrete proposals regarding food security and to find ways to limit food price volatility.

During a briefing on Saturday afternoon, Zaia told reporters that the conflict between food crisis and developing bio-fuels was one of the main topics of discussion at the preliminary session of the G8 farm ministers on Saturday morning.

He said food security, raising world food production and speculation in commodity markets also remained the main issues of the talks.

Talking about food security, the Italian minister said that all populations should be ensured a food supply of both quantity and quality.

Zaia suggested that specific measures to handle these issues be submitted at the next G8 leaders summit in La Maddalena, Sardinia, in July, to be hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

During an expanded evening session on Saturday, the G8 ministers were joined by agriculture ministers from the Group of Five together with Argentina, Australia and Egypt.

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.

On Sunday, the G8 ministers are scheduled to hold a working meeting in the morning, followed by an informal working session joined by international organizations in the afternoon.

On Monday, the G8 and G5 ministers together with their counterparts from Argentina, Australia and Egypt will hold a working session, which will also be attended by representatives from the European Union Commission, the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and other UN agencies.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2009)