World's poor farmers given voice in UK Parliament
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Concern Worldwide's Unheard Voices campaign has achieved another success. A recent debate in Parliament highlighted the importance of supporting poor farmers. The UK government has made a commitment to strengthen its engagement in agriculture and rural development.
Following a meeting with Concern, Martin Horwood MP led a debate in Parliament on rural poverty in developing countries. Mr Horwood described rural poverty as a “giant” because 75% of the world’s poor live in rural areas. He said that the decline in aid to agriculture over the last 25 years was “staggering”. He called for the UK government to “put the needs of rural farmers and rural communities at the heart of their policy making.”
Responding to Mr Horwood, Shahid Malik MP, a minister at the Department for International Development, recognised the importance of addressing rural poverty. He said that the government will “seek to strengthen our engagement in agriculture and rural development – particularly in key countries in Africa and Asia, including Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Malawi, Uganda and Rwanda.”
Pete Shelley, Concern’s policy officer, commented: “We are seeing encouraging signs that the government is beginning to respond positively to Concern’s call for it to listen to the voices of poor farmers. The government had already committed to consult widely when it reviews its agriculture policy later this year, and now it has made a commitment to increasing its support to agriculture in key countries. We need to ensure that these commitments are translated into concrete actions that benefit the 400 million poor and hungry people who depend on the land for their survival.”
The full debate can be read here.
