INSTANT VIEW - G8 summit pledges to boost food output

ROME (Reuters) - Following are comments from aid experts on the G8 summit's global food security initiative, which pledged $20 billion (12.3 billion pounds) over three years to spur agricultural investment in poorer countries to fight hunger.

STAFFAN DE MISTURA, VICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

"$20 billion was a last-minute agreement and it was greeted with great happiness by all of us in the conference room. While we are rebuilding agriculture we need to continue supporting food assistance because the financial crisis is pushing another 103 million people into hunger this year."

SARAH GILLAM, ACTIONAID

"The final pledge doesn't change much. It is a welcome step in the right direction to get food on table for the 1 billion hungry but it's not enough to feed them all.

"Aid for food must reach at least $23 billion a year by 2020 to reach the millennium development goal of halving hunger by 2050. This takes the G8 much closer but there is still a way to go. Also, is this all additional money? Given the G8 record on delivery, this is still very much a work in progress."

JACQUES DIOUF, DIRECTOR GENERAL, U.N. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION

"The most important thing is the shift in policy and focus on the need to help hungry and poor people to produce their own food. That's the biggest shift in strategy I have seen over the past two decades.

We still have a lot of work to do, but this time I believe we will deliver, because this was the initiative of President Barack Obama, so Yes We Can."