§ 31. Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has proposed any new initiatives in the United Nations to seek to prevent further outbreaks of mass famine in the Third world.
§ Mr. RentonWe have urged the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) to increase its programme of aid to rehabilitate agriculture in Africa, and called on the Agency to sponsor more research into drought-resistant traditional crops, for example sorghum and millet, and into making them more acceptable to consumers. We have taken the initiative in supporting actions within the United Nations system to improve the international response to the long-term problems of food shortages, in particular those relating to up-grading the monitoring activities of FAO and to enhancing co-ordination between agencies.