THE Bishop of Blackburn has slammed as "obscene" the situation where people in the developing world are starving while UK farmers are producing more than they can sell.

And the Rt Rev Alan Chesters has called for reforms in international food production to end the situation.

Speaking at the Harvest Festival service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Clitheroe yesterday, he said: "It is disgusting, perhaps obscene is the word, that at present our farmers are producing more food than we are prepared to buy while we regularly see on our televisions the horrendous plight of millions of people in the developing world who are starving. There must be a better way."

The Bishop, a member of the government's Rural Task Force, said the future must also include a fairer deal for British farmers.

"We need to pray that those who process and market our food do so in a way which gives the farmers a fair reward for their labours," he said.

The Bishop, who is also the Church of England's senior spokesman on rural issues, said the facts of the farming industry were "quite staggering".

He said most farmers work a 70-hour week for an average wage of £4.70 an hour. The average incomes last year of hill farmers were just £3,500 and in the last two years 51,300 farmers and farm workers had left the industry.

The Bishop said his annual harvest appeal was a practical attempt to show that concern.

"For our thanksgiving to be real and sincere it must lead to an actual means by which we can help the poor, the hungry and the homeless," said the Bishop.

This year's appeal will benefit the Christian Aid campaign to remove landmines in Cambodia and rural communities in Britain hit by the foot and mouth outbreak.

"This year, as we rejoice in the harvest, it is right that we show concern in a practical way not only for those with too little to eat, but for those producers and those who work in related local businesses who do not know quite which way to turn in order to survive," he added.