ROME (AFP) — The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday farming could offer a cost-effective way of cutting greenhouse emissions, but had been "largely excluded" from next week's Copenhagen summit.

Agriculture contributes 14 percent of the world's greenhouse gases and is in a position to make a significant contribution to reducing emissions, particularly in developing nations, the FAO said in a statement.

"Yet agriculture has been largely excluded from the main climate financing mechanisms under discussion in Denmark," the statement said.

Financial efforts to reduce emissions from agriculture could also help fight poverty and hunger, FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Mueller said in the statement.

"Agriculture offers readily available and cost-effective options for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, and can start to do so now," Mueller said.

Other sectors may need investment in expensive technologies and research to achieve results, he said.

Certain farming practices, such as mixing and rotating crops and disturbing the soil as little as possible, capture carbon and store it in the soil, the FAO said.

Many of the techniques to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are the same as those needed to improve productivity and food security, the FAO said.

According to FAO estimates, by 2050, food production will need to have increased by 70 percent to feed the world population.

Climate change threatens farming output through higher temperatures, changes in rainfall and more frequent droughts and floods, the FAO said.