Berlin - A female legislator from the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats was picked Thursday to become Germany's new minister of agriculture and consumer affairs.

Ilse Aigner, 43, was nominated by Horst Seehofer, who resigned from the post on Monday to become prime minister of the southern state of Bavaria.

"I'm very pleased," said Aigner, who like Seehofer hails from Bavaria and is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU).

A radio and television technician by training, she has been a member of parliament in Berlin since 1998, specializing in education, research and agricultural affairs.

No date has been set for her swearing-in. Normally, the chancellor names a new minster. But in Merkel's grand coalition with the CSU and Social Democrats, the party of a minister who leaves the cabinet has the right to determine a successor.

"It is within the rights of the CSU leader to make the first public announcement," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said on Wednesday, when asked if Merkel knew the name of Seehofer's successor.

Aigner will be the second woman to head the ministry after Renate Kuenast, a member of the Greens party who held the job from 2001-2005 before Seehofer took over.

Kuenast urged Aigner to pay more attention to consumer affairs, which she said had "dropped to bottom place under Seehofer."

As farm minister over the past years, Seehofer had notably managed to calm farmers' anger over weak milk prices and EU policy, although milk prices still remain low.

Aigner's first big lest is likely to come in November when the EU decides whether to cut direct subsidies to farmers. (dpa)