International Fund for Agricultural Development (Hansard, 29 July 1985)

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. I should like to point out that, as it appears on the Order Paper, there is a printing error in the Question. The word "finding" should read "funding".

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, as I told the noble Lord on 19th June, we are ready to contribute to the second replenishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development as soon as the other participants agree. Until agreement is reached on an appropriate governors' resolution, the second replenishment cannot take place.

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
My Lords, I was hoping that the noble Baroness would be able to report some progress since 19th June. Can she tell the House what is the present position of negotiations, what part the British Government are taking in those negotiations, and when she hopes complete agreement on the fund will be reached?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, I have nothing further to add to the Answer that I gave to the noble Lord on 19th June. The Government are ready to contribute to the second replenishment as soon as it is agreed, and we indicated that we would reach a decision about the possibility of a United Kingdom contribution to the IFAD's special programme for Africa after agreement on replenishment had been reached.

§ Lord Bauer
My Lords, does the noble Baroness know that in a recent study by US AID the operations of this fund were much criticised as being indiscriminate and lacking in systematic evaluation? If the United States and OPEC reduce their contributions, should we not do likewise? If not, should we not at least reduce our payments to the overlapping organisation, FAO, in which, from the Director-General downwards, hostility to the West is widespread, persistent and shrill?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, I was not aware of the piece of research to which my noble friend refers. The Government's position is as I have stated it on this occasion and as I stated it when this same Question was asked previously.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, will the noble Baroness not agree that, despite some of the failures mentioned by the previous speaker, a suffering humanity must not become a victim of some aspects of maladministration? Is it possible for the House to know whether there has yet been any major agreement between the super powers with regard to this vital issue?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, the consideration of this matter is not an issue for the super powers, as the noble Lord, Lord Molloy, has suggested. It is in fact a matter of reaching agreement on the sharing of the amount of money between the OECD countries and the OPEC countries. We are still waiting to hear whether the United States is prepared to make its contribution.

Lord Oram
My Lords, has not one of the major messages coming out of Africa these last months been that for too long agriculture in that continent has been neglected by the major donors? Despite what the noble Lord, Lord Bauer, has said, is it not the case that IFAD is one of the most effective means of channelling aid to the small peasants of Africa and, indeed, of other continents? Should we therefore not take a positive attitude towards this fund? Would not those many hundreds of thousands of people who are voluntarily contributing to help the situation in Africa be very disturbed if they knew that the major donor governments were playing a game of, "After you, Claud: after you, Cecil", and not making a move because the others will not?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, the purpose of IFAD is to mobilise additional resources to help developing countries to introduce, expand or improve their food production systems. For this reason we contributed to the first fund, and we have said that we will contribute to the second replenishment. In fact, it would be quite wrong to say that anyone is playing a game over the 9 replenishment, and I believe that all noble Lords would acknowledge that the United States has made a very real aid contribution both to Africa and to other developing countries throughout the world.

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
My Lords, will the noble Baroness reaffirm the view of the Government, which she has stated to this House before, that the inernational fund is one of the most cost-effective of all international organisations, that its administration has been virtually without blemish, that its administrative costs are extraordinarily low, and that it is an organisation which the whole world should support if famine in Africa is to be prevented in the future?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, I have made it plain that we are prepared to contribute to the second replenishment, and we are prepared to consider the voluntary fund. We have already given very considerable amounts of money to the relief of the famine in Ethiopia and in the Sudan, and now by way of direct bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa.

§ Lord Bauer
My Lords, does my noble friend recognise that the major causes of famine in Africa are not neglect by the West but the policies of African Governments?

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, I think we would all accept that the tragic situation in Ethiopia is not helped by a civil war.