Most Europeans approve of a recent overhaul of European Union farm policy and believe huge annual spending on it is about right, but less than half of those surveyed have even heard of it, a poll showed today.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has baffled people in the European Union for decades with its complex regulations and farmer subsidies designed to improve food security, but 27,000 EU citizens surveyed showed less than half were aware of it.

The poll conducted on behalf of the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, showed 53 percent of respondents knew nothing of the CAP and 34 percent were unclear what it was.

Most knowledgeable were the French, 65 percent of whom had heard of the CAP, with Ireland close behind at 63 percent. Both countries are major beneficiaries of EU farm spending.

At the other end of the scale, only 14 and 23 percent of Maltese and Estonian citizens said they had heard of the CAP.

EU farm spending eats up more than 40 percent of the EU's annual budget of more than 100 billion euros ($155.9 billion).

The CAP regulates a vast array of food-related areas ranging from nuts, wheat and wine to sugar, tomatoes and sheep. It also covers hemp, honey and hops and even rearing of silkworms.