§ Mr. Woodasked the Minister of Overseas Development what decisions were reached by Commonwealth Ministers when they met recently in London to discuss food production and rural development.
§ Mrs. Hart:Ministers agreed that food production and rural development should feature more prominently in national 291W plans and that these should be designed to ensure that the poorest people in developing countries would receive a fairer share of the benefits of development. They acknowledged the need for developing Commonwealth countries to review their policies related to their institutions for integrated rural development —for example, co-operatives; to land reform; to provision of appropriate inputs such as water; to provision of incentives to farmers; and to training and research. They agreed that a greater share of the assistance of Commonwealth donor countries should be directed to agriculture and rural development, and strongly requested the forthcoming meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Governments should consider their report. I will arrange for a copy of the report prepared by the meeting to be placed in the Library of the House.