PARIS -- Government farm subsidies largely do not work and most of the money never ends up as an income gain for farmers, according to a new report by the OECD released on Friday.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said its study showed that only 25 percent of the estimated one billion dollars (939 million euros) in state agriculture subsidies ends up as extra income for farmers, AFP reported.

"None of the support measures we studied would seem to provide long-term income benefits for farm households efficiently," the study concluded.

"It is clear that widely prevailing approaches to support are not efficient in improving farm household income, and even have the opposite effect of raising costs and reducing farm profitability over the longer term," it said.

The study said that because most of the aid is calculated on the basis of production, larger and richer farms tend to be the recipients of the taxpayer subsidies.

It also found that 40 percent of the aid wound up going to farm suppliers while 14 percent went to extra rent for non-farming landlords.

The report suggested that governments wanting to increase the income of farmers look to other methods besides agricultural policy.

"Many farm households already have income levels equivalent to or in excess of those of non-farm households. The public policy interest in these cases would seem to be poorly served with any income-related policy instrument," it said.

The OECD is an international economic research institute with member countries from 30 of the most industrialized nations.