World Food Programme

I thank the hon. Gentleman. Several hon. Members have raised the question of investment in research, and I shall deal specifically with that in some detail in a moment. We very much welcomed the Committee's inquiry last year. Its report was generous, giving credit to the WFP's work in providing a front-line response to hunger in some of the most challenging and difficult environments—for instance, in Burma, Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe. The WFP recognises the leading role played by the United Kingdom in drawing attention to the growing crisis earlier in the year. It recognises the importance of nutrition in helping to achieve the millennium development goals. It acknowledges that food security is not only about giving more food aid to people in humanitarian situations, nor even about growing more food in developing countries, although these are both important elements. Social protection—the provision of cash or food for work programmes for the most vulnerable—is another hugely important part of the equation. Indeed, the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West has raised that particular issue. The right hon. Gentleman made the point strongly that it is important to get the international policy agenda right. We have to make progress on Doha; we must press ahead in that process. We must also consider how to dismantle subsidies to farmers in rich countries, to ensure a level playing field for farmers in developing countries. We need to end the practice by some donors of dumping surplus agricultural produce on poor countries as food aid, because it undermines incentives to grow more food locally. The Select Committee report has had a significant influence on Government policy, but it is respected globally because it came at a time when some of the questions that it raised need to be considered from an independent perspective. Since the report was published, international action to address the food crisis has continued, although this has now become inextricably linked to efforts to mitigate the impact of the global economic crisis, particularly on developing countries. That is understandable. Most people are hungry because they are poor. As Members have said, hunger cannot be tackled without tackling the root causes of poverty. With strong UK support, the European Union has finalised its plans to provide an additional €1 billion of new grants to developing countries to improve agriculture and food security. At the Madrid food security conference in January, which I attended on behalf of the UK, the international community signed up to our proposal for a global partnership on agriculture, food security and nutrition. Work is going ahead in Rome and in developing countries to firm up the details. At the highly successful G20 summit in London in February, led by the Prime Minister, $100 billion of additional lending by the multilateral development banks was pledged for developing countries. Increased access to trade finance was also promised, as was a UN proposal to develop a system to monitor global vulnerability and to enable donors better to target those groups most at risk, especially women, children and the elderly. The World Bank has committed itself to increase spending on agriculture by 50 per cent., and its global food crisis response fund is fully earmarked, and substantially spent, with $1.2 billion for food-stressed countries, and 27 million people being able to gain access to seed and fertiliser, or to expanded social protection programmes. It has recently been agreed to continue and expand that programme. The world has had a food crisis, a fuel crisis and an economic crisis. Throughout, the international community can be proud of the fact that it has responded quickly and effectively to the needs of the poorest. Britain has led that debate in every international forum, with all-party support from the House. The challenge is to ensure that the commitments signed by world leaders, particularly at the G20, are delivered and implemented. Communiqués are one thing, but the need to transfer the commitments and the necessary investment into making a difference for the poorest people in the world is pressing. That is why we have a continued role, after leading the G20 summit, in ensuring that those commitments are implemented and delivered. DFID is working with the Foreign Office and other Departments to ensure that we continue to hold the international community to account for the commitments that have been made to mitigate the impact of the current crisis. However, we should not forget that the fundamental importance of the long-term reform of international financial institutions and other global organisations is vital, if we are to learn from the global recession. Having responded to the Select Committee report and dealt with matters relating to the WFP, I shall now deal with some of the specific points raised during our debate. The right hon. Member for Gordon and the hon. Member for Cotswold spoke about nutrition, and I want to make it clear where we are in that process. We established a nutrition task team in June, and Ministers have asked it to recommend ways in which DFID can strengthen its focus on improving nutrition outcomes in the context of rising food prices. The team is currently looking at what DFID and other development partners are already doing, to see where the gaps are and what support can be given to building a common global agenda on nutrition. That is the sort of progress that has been made, and we will report further in due course. The right hon. Gentleman also raised the US policy of providing food aid essentially in kind. President Obama has already indicated that he is keen to expand the amount of food aid purchased in-country or within the region. That is a significant move in American policy. It is also worth noting that at the G20 meeting plans were announced for a $1 billion package of assistance, including for humanitarian aid and research and technology; and again that came from the new Administration. These are very encouraging signs of a clear and distinct shift in policy and will help the entire international community do what it has wanted to do for some time with regard to food security. Right hon. and hon. Members have asked about research. I want to be very clear about the level of DFID's commitment on this issue. We will spend £400 million on international agricultural research over the current five-year period. That includes £20 million a year to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, but that figure is likely to rise significantly once reforms of the CGIAR system are complete. We have been at the forefront of efforts to reform that organisation and have been instrumental in levering substantial new funding commitments from a range of donors. Reform will focus on increased accountability and oversight, streamlined financial arrangements and the targeting of resources more effectively and to a smaller number of strategic objectives. We are committed to spending nearly £40 million over the next four years on our "research into use" programme to ensure that small farmers can access new science and technology as quickly as possible. Technology transfer is a key element of strengthening agricultural extension programmes, especially in relation to adaptation in the face of climate change. That will therefore be one of our priorities when spending our research resources. The hon. Member for Cotswold asked about assumptions about food prices and DFID policy. The assumption is that prices will remain above trend price. Our position remains that we must address poverty, encourage economic growth and support, as the solution, increased household incomes. That returns to the point that most people are hungry because they are poor and that hunger cannot be dealt with in isolation from a total poverty reduction strategy. The hon. Gentleman also asked about biofuels. It is important to make it clear that the impact of biofuels on food prices is not yet properly understood. Much work is still going on in this area. For example, rice prices saw the greatest increase last year, but rice is not used for biofuel production. However, we need to do much more research, and we are currently engaged in research partnerships with the World Bank and others to try to get much more empirical evidence on the impact of biofuels on food prices.