BACKGROUND AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Over the course of this Parliament, we have commented
on the apparent lack of an agricultural policy in the Department
for International Development's (DFID) overall development strategy.
However, we note that DFID published policy papers on agriculture
and eliminating hunger in 2002 and that DFID provides the UK's
permanent representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.[3]
We were pleased to see DFID publish, in December 2003, a consultation
paper entitled 'Agriculture and poverty reduction: unlocking the
potential'. The paper provided an opportunity for us to contribute
to DFID's consultation on its emerging policy, by taking evidence
and publishing a short report highlighting what we see as the
key policy issues.
During the inquiry, we heard evidence from witnesses
during two evidence sessions. Our first session examined policy
foundations with reference to past experiences and the NGO perspective.
Witnesses included: Dr Christie Peacock, Chief Executive Officer,
Farm-Africa, Andrew Jowett, Director, Harvest Help, Dr Lea Borkenhagen,
Livelihoods Programme Development Manager, Oxfam, Colin Williams
OBE, Director, International Development Enterprises, Colin Poulton,
Imperial College London, Dr Michael Hubbard, University of Birmingham,
Dr Steve Wiggins, Overseas Development Institute and Dr Peter
Hazell, Director of the Development Strategy and Governance Division
of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Our second evidence session concentrated on exploring
practical solutions to the problems faced by farmers, including
an examination of the role of research and of new technologies.
We heard evidence from Stephen Carr, OBE, independent expert on
African agriculture and long-term resident of Malawi, Jonathan
Coulter, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich,
Dr Colin Thirtle and Professor John Mumford, both of Imperial
College London, Professor George Rothschild, Co-ordinator, Independent
Advisory Committee of DFID's Renewable Natural Resources Research
Strategy Programmes, and Dr Michael Lipton CMG, Sussex University.
We are grateful to all those who contributed to the inquiry; the
oral and written evidence which we received is published alongside
this report.
3 Eliminating Hunger- Strategy for achieving the Millennium
Development Goal on hunger, DFID, May 2002 and Better livelihoods
for poor people: The role of Agriculture, DFID, August 2002 Back
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