§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will indicate the approximate annual sum spent by the tropical pest control section of the Tropical Development Research Institute in the current year; and how it relates in real terms to the expenditure of the Centre for Overseas Pest Research for each year from 1979–80 to 1987–88.
§ Mr. Chris Patten[holding answer 27 June 1988]: Because the Centre for Overseas Pest Research was successively amalgamated into the Tropical Development and Research Institute and the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute (ODNRI) on I September 1987, it is not possible without disproportionate effort to construct an expenditure series for the years specified.
It is estimated that scientific and technical effort by the former Centre for Overseas Pest Research (COPR) amounted to 130 man-years in 1979–80. In 1983–84, COPR's last year of separate existence, the comparable figure was 93 man-years. In 1987–88, under what is now ODNRI, the effort devoted to tropical pest control amounted to 97 man-years.
In April last year I instructed the Tropical Development and Research Institute to increase its operations in Africa. Project proposals estimated at £7 million have been prepared to tackle crop, animal and storage pest problems. These projects are based on the valuable experience of the institute and will further develop its expertise in tropical pest control.