§ 6. Mr. BlizzardTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she will take to address the difficulties faced by poor people in coffee growing countries. [92209]
§ Clare ShortThe UK is committed to reducing global poverty as measured by progress towards achieving the MDGs. The Department for International Development has bilateral programmes in a number of coffee producing developing countries where poor people's livelihoods are significantly dependent on coffee production. These include Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda; and Guatemala and Nicaragua. The UK supports countries in the development and implementation of their poverty reduction strategies, including nationally owned agricultural diversification plans to deal with commodity dependency. In Uganda, DFID is supporting a feasibility analysis for coffee certification to help poor producers realise better prices for their production. DFID also supports research in several coffee producing countries aimed at improving the competitiveness of smallholder production.