FACTBOX-Agri industry invests to raise farm output

Nov 13 (Reuters) - Major food and agriculture companies are investing in sustainable farm development around the world as part of long-term strategies to secure reliable supplies, cut costs and boost positions on new markets.

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The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation says $83 billion must be invested annually in agricultural development, and overall output must rise by 70 percent, to feed a projected world population of 9.1 billion people in 2050.

It is urging governments to fork out about half of that money, but says the private sector must help with the rest.

Business leaders at a two-day conference in Milan, ahead of a U.N. world food summit next week, said their investments were not charity but part of their business -- with many pilot projects setting the stage for future commercial operations.

Nestle (NESN.VX), Unliver (ULVR.L), Cargill [CARG.UL], Bunge (BG.N) and Syngenta (SYNN.VX) were among those at the meeting.

Food trading houses and agricultural companies are often secretive about their business. Some said it was difficult to give specific figures on investments in sustainable development in emerging markets because it was part of overall spending.

Others provided figures that refer to research and development spending, saying its results would be used to ensure sustainable farming in poor countries.

Here are some of the figures they gave:

* U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill has invested $13.5 billion in developing countries, its Vice President Paul Naar said.

The overall investment figure includes facilities, working capital and specific projects linked to sustainable agriculture development, he said.

* Another global agribusiness giant, Bunge, said it invests between $100 and $200 million in sustainable agriculture development projects around the world.

* The world's biggest food group, Nestle, has been investing in developing countries in Africa and Latin America since the 1920s, its chairman, Peter Brabeck, said.

Naming some of its current investments, Brabeck said the group is investing about $100 million in a 10-year research programme to improve productivity and quality of coffee and cocoa in Africa. It has set up an R&D centre in Abidjan.

The group is also spending 350 million Swiss francs ($344.8 million) over 10 years on its world-wide programmes to boost milk productivity.

* Consumer goods giant Unilever spent 20 million euros in 2008 in sustainable development project.

* Syngenta, the world's largest agrochemicals maker, spends about $3 million a day on research and development to come up with new technologies that then would be used in sustainable development projects, COO Crop Protection John Atkin said.

Syngenta also spent $10.8 million on corporate community investment in 2008.

* U.S. agricultural biotech company Pioneer Hi-Bred, a unit of DuPont (DD.N), has invested several million dollars in agricultural development programmes in Africa, including donations, aiming to set the stage for expanding commercial operations there.

* U.S. agricultural business giants Deere & Co (DE.N), Archer Daniel Midlands Co (ADM.N), DuPont and Monsanto Co (MON.N) -- competitors in the industry -- have founded The Global Harvest Initiative, with a goal of doubling agricultural output by 2050 to meet rising world demand.

Already the four companies spend an estimated $9 million a day on R&D. (Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Anthony Barker)