§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what impact she estimates the national crop survey conducted by the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisation findings will have on the levels of aid provided by her Department in Swaziland. [100918]
§ Clare ShortThe recent preliminary crop assessments by the Food and Agriculture Organisation have indicated that there will be another very poor harvest in the lowveld. Over the last year we have already provided £250,000 to the World Food Programme for their humanitarian operations in Swaziland. We are finalising support to both UNICEF (£200,000) to improve the water and sanitation facilities at 80 schools, and to Save the Children (£70,000) to provide a livelihoods economist to help plan recovery programmes in the most vulnerable areas.
Once more reliable figures for this harvest are available we will consider further support through the World Food Programme's regional humanitarian programme covering also Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, and Angola.