§ Mr. Robert Banksasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the amount of money allocated from the aid budget for research and development of new and more prolific strains of wheat, maize and other cereals suitable for growing in underdeveloped countries, for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. RaisonBritain contributes, as follows, to the annual budgets of a number of international agricultural research centres (IARCs) whose work is devoted wholly or partly to research on cereals for use in developing countries. In the case of centres whose mandate includes crops or topics other than cereals it is not possible to identify the budget for, and British contribution to, cereals alone.
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British Contribution £'000 IARC 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 International Centre for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT) 230 330 380 400 460 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) 625 640 660 680 725 International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (major programme on rice) 230 300 310 330 400 International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) (major programme on cereals) 150 300 350 370 490 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) (Major programmes on sorghum and pearl millet) 480 640 660 680 800
IARC 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (major programmes in rice and maize) 330 390 400 400 400 We also finance research projects in many agricultural sectors both through our research and development programme and through our country programmes. Some of these projects are concerned solely with one or more aspects of cereal crop improvement but many tackle this within a wider ranging project, dealing with eg farming systems or embracing other non-cereal crops. It is not possible to separate the costs of the components of these projects. Expenditure on projects concerned wholly or in part with cereal improvement has been:
£ 1980–81 592,000 1981–82 667,600 1982–83 1,041,800 1983–84 1,473,800 1984–85 1,402,000 A copy of the report on research and development is in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Robert Banksasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the amount allocated from the aid budget for research and development at Kew Gardens of new cereal crops suitable for growing in harsh conditions in Africa for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. RaisonWe have not financed research projects carried out by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the field of cereal crops.