The New Zealand government is to help fund studies to examine agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in Latin America, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced Thursday.

Guy told the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture conference in Buenos Aires, involving Agriculture Ministers from across the region, that the funding of 800,000 NZ dollars (662,636 U.S. dollars) would support two projects also funded by the Latin American and Caribbean Fund for Agricultural Technology.

"This funding will support two regional livestock greenhouse gas research projects in Latin America one looking at dairying in the Andes with Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia, and the other looking at trees on farms in Central America with Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras," Guy said in a statement from his office.

"This additional funding recognizes the growing importance of this region to New Zealand."

The projects would help to build capacity for measuring greenhouse gas emissions from livestock under traditional and improved systems, facilitate the design of mitigation strategies, and help formulate policies to promote sustainable livestock systems in Central America and the Andes. Endi