The Asian Development Bank on Saturday called for immediate action from global governments to combat soaring food prices and pledged fresh financial aid to help feed the Asia Pacific region's poorest nations. The ADB set out a plan of short- and medium-to-longer-term assistance work, including financial support, to protect the most vulnerable groups as well as programmes to mitigate the immediate impact on the poor of soaring food prices. Following is a summary of the plan. SHORT TERM ASSISTANCE 1. Targeted food subsidies and an emergency food security reserves system, including food for work and food stamp programmes. 2. Policy advice on export restrictions, price controls and supports, optional food grain reserves and input subsidies. 3. Input availability to ensure farmers have easy, reliable and affordable access to seed, fertilisers, pesticides and credit. MEDIUM TO LONGER TERM ASSISTANCE 1. Incentives to invest in agriculture by promoting reform of policies that distort prices and trade. 2. Investment to improve existing irrigation systems, infrastructure as well as flood control and drainage, soil and water conservation. 3. Investment in roads to improve farm-to-market transport. 4. Upgrading processing facilities to cut post-harvest losses -- as high as 30 percent of some crops -- and reduce the amount of cheap, unprocessed commodity exports. 5. Help expand rural financing, including micro-finance. 6. Promote policies to boost investment in agricultural research and technology to develop new high-yielding and pest-resistant crops. 7. Promote bio-security, biodiversity and environmental sustainability to enhance food safety. 8. Increase flows of timely market information to farmers to help them adjust production to suit changing market conditions. 9. Dismantling barriers to agricultural trade, including the establishment of regional commodity exchanges and clearing houses. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE