Canada will provide 1 billion Canadian dollars (US$840 million) to farmers in a bid to help them better deal with the difficult times of the current recession, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday.

The money will be provided in loans over the next five years to farmers finding it difficult to borrow money, Harper said visiting a farm in Saskatchewan, an agricultural province.

Current programs will be adapted to enable farmers who cannot get loan to get the aid, Harper said, adding the proposed changes include increasing the amount of guaranteed credit available to farmers and expanding the criteria for the program so that new farmers will also be able to access this credit.

Changes will also be made so that young people can more easily take over the family farm, he said.

The drop of the number of farmers is a "huge concern" for Canada, experts have said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2009)