§ 46. Mr. Bowen Wellsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to assist Africa to offset the effects of world recession and drought.
§ 47. Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will institute a fund for the African Commonwealth countries suffering from drought.
§ Mr. RaisonWe are continuing to provide drought-related assistance on the substantial scale maintained in the last financial year. New machinery would not in itself increase the generous proportion of our aid already directed at African Commonwealth countries.
§ Mr. WellsI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the real answer to drought and recession in Africa is not to chuck money at the problem, in the form of food aid or disaster relief, but to promote projects which deal with the problems of agriculture at times of drought? We need more research into drought conditions and more projects designed to cope with those conditions, such as water conservation projects. We should also provide foreign exchange, possibly through the aid budget, to enable agricultural projects to fund the extra money needed from foreign exchange sources to enable them to continue.
§ Mr. RaisonI agree with my hon. Friend that this is very much a development rather than a short-term emergency matter. However, we have to do what we can to meet the immediate crises, and I think that we have made a good contribution in that respect, too.
§ Mr. JannerI suggest that in the past our contribution to drought relief has been insufficient, and that it will be even less sufficient next year as the drought continues to make life miserable and death near to so many people in Africa, including those in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya, which I recently visited. Will the Minister, on behalf of the British people, make a generous gesture to those who are in such misery as a result of the drought?
§ Mr. RaisonI accept that there is a grave problem in Africa, but we have not done badly. Our commitment in the past financial year totalled £24 million. So far this year we have committed £13 million, and we will, of course, continue to watch the matter very carefully.
§ Mr. DeakinsDoes the Minister recognise that the rapidly rising populations in Africa also contribute to the damage done by the drought and the world recession? Will he bend his mind to trying to increase our contribution to population programmes in countries which are also suffering from those disadvantages?
§ Mr. RaisonPopulation is a very important aspect of the problem. The World Bank has just published an important report on the matter, and we shall play our part at the conference in Mexico in August. I accept that population measures should play a significant part in our aid programme.