World Food Summit (Hansard, 21 November 1996)

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, the summit produced an international consensus on the action needed to reduce and eventually eradicate hunger throughout the world.

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that answer which was a little short on detail. Does he agree that a major cause of the failure of food production in the developing world to keep up with the population increase is the extent of subsidised food exports from the north to the south which undercut and put farmers out of business in the south? Many of them leave the land and end up in already over-populated and impoverished cities of the south.
Will the noble Lord ask the Government to recommend the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference next month in Singapore rapidly to phase out or subsidise food exports from the north to the south? Will the Government also allow affected countries in the developing south to operate protective tariffs in order to encourage their own food production?
Finally, can the Minister explain the Ruggero initiative on tariffs which was mentioned by his noble friend Lady Chalker at the conference in Rome?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, I could be here for quite a long time with that list of questions. The first point is that we are making all efforts to get free trade throughout the world; that will remove the subsidies on food products from the north to the south. However, with free trade it is difficult to say, "we must also allow other countries to have tariffs". The two are not possible together.
1349 The most important point is to consider the aid given and use it, as the ODA does exceedingly well. I know that it has support from all round the House. We should implement the plan of action and encourage everyone else to do so, that plan being to overcome poverty and hunger. We believe that that is best done by promoting sustainable development in those countries. Food is one of the most important parts of sustainable development.

§ Lord Pilkington of Oxenford
My Lords, is the Minister aware of the average size of delegation at the conference? We have heard worrying rumours of delegations of over 1,200 people.

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, I am not aware of any allegation of a delegation of over 1,200 people. I have seen mentioned the figure of 100 from one or two countries but we have not received a final list of those attending. It is important to note that we deliberately kept the UK delegation small. We had six officials from the UK plus two NGOs and support from our missions in Rome.

§ The Earl of Onslow
My Lords, my noble friend says that he advocates free trade in agricultural products. How does he square that with the fact that Customs and Excise is trying to impose a duty of £2,000 per tonne on the new spreadable butter instead of a duty of £700 per tonne on Anchor butter? Has that anything to do with free trade?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, individual instances are not terribly helpful. We are talking about what we are trying to do through the World Trade Organisation and GATT to free up trade all round the world, not a single instance such as the noble Earl mentioned.

§ Lord Haskel
My Lords, is the Minister aware that Fidel Castro stated at the conference that reducing the number of people short of food from 800 million to 400 million was not ambitious enough?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, I am aware that that is what President Castro said.

§ Viscount Waverley
My Lords, why do our European Union partners not share the Government's view that food aid destabilises local food prices? Do they have no regard for the consequences?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, while we are, of course, members of the EU and make our point clear in all the appropriate fora, we cannot answer for the EU. I wish to reiterate that we believe the funds are best utilised in promoting sustainable development, which is a way of reducing poverty and suffering on an on-going basis.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, on reflection, will the Minister agree that for an issue of such immense significance for the poorest people of the world, his answers have been extraordinarily generalised? Will he tell the House what specific discussions are taking place between development Ministers in the European Union and 1350 agriculture Ministers on how subsidies for food production in the European Union will be phased out to stop unfair competition with the third world?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, as the conference finished last weekend, I do not have details of what discussions have continued since then. However, I shall write to the noble Lord on the matter.

§ Lord Monkswell
My Lords, will the Government confirm that an action plan was agreed extending for the next 20 years to eradicate hunger in the world? Do the Government think that 20 years is a long time for hungry people to wait to be fed?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, this was a target. The target is for reducing hunger. It is sensible to have realistic targets. One of the problems with the 1974 congress was that the targets were totally unachievable. What this summit has tried to do is to come up with achievable targets. It is terribly important that we should have targets which are realistic and can be achieved.

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, is the noble Lord satisfied that our aid is sufficiently targeted to small farmers, who need credit and advice, perhaps through agricultural extension workers? Where these schemes are applied well they are often extremely successful.

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, I am sorry, but I could not quite catch the question. May I ask the noble Lord to repeat it?

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, does the noble Lord feel that the correct proportion of our aid is going to aid agriculture at the front line in developing countries?

§ Lord Chesham
Yes, my Lords, we are doing everything we can to put it there and we believe that that is the right place for it to be.

Lord Campbell of Croy
My Lords, my noble friend's original reply was described as "short on detail", apparently as a criticism. Does he agree that replies are expected to be brief at Question Time and that he has set a very good example to all other Members of your Lordships' House, including those who put Questions?

§ Lord Chesham
My Lords, I should like to thank my noble friend for his comments.