and whether he will sympathetically consider their reasonable claims for compensation, in view of the fact that they responded to the call of the President to cultivate this land for the production of home-grown food during the Recent Food Crisis?

Sir H. GREENWOOD: The question of shipping meat from this country to relieve the Food Crisis in Central Europe is being carefully studied.

I would like to congratulate him on the fact that he is having no troubles in his constituency in the way of reactions as to what has happened in the Present Food Crisis.

As far as the world is concerned, there is a Food Crisis, but as far as this country is concerned, there is more than that - there is, in our opinion, a crisis over the machinery of government.

We are about to hear the Government's United Kingdom policy for agriculture in view of the Present Acute Food Crisis, and it is in those special circumstances that I claim that a representative of the Scottish Office, which is responsible for agriculture in a large and very important part of the United Kingdom, ought to take part in this Debate.

Mr. De la Bère asked the Minister of Agriculture whether, in view of the Food Crisis and the need for increased milk production, he will consider launching an active campaign against diseases amongst dairy cattle.

Mr. Sorensen asked the Undersecretary of State for India the total quantity and nature of extra food supplies that have reached, and have been despatched to, India to meet the Present Food Crisis.

asked the Undersecretary of State for India the total quantity and nature of extra food supplies that have reached, and have been despatched to, India to meet the Present Food Crisis.

My right hon. Friend, the Minister of Food, and the Indian Food Delegation are making every possible effort in Washington to secure that the maximum quantity of cereals is allocated to India to meet the Present Food Crisis.

Unfortunately, it is not anticipated that U.N.R.R.A. arrivals of food in Austria will be in time to avoid a Serious Food Crisis, and we are naturally taking all steps within our power in an effort to avert this.

He said that it was only in the last few weeks that world opinion had realised the magnitude and character of the Food Crisis.

Owing to the Food Crisis, of which we are all aware, it would seem to me to be inevitable that we shall have to step up our production in 1947 to at least the 1945 level, causing a very heavy drain upon our fertility resources.

This is true of Governments in all countries once they are elected or appointed and there is a great natural desire to impose their will on the citizens and to organise their own country, I think they have to realise that if they ask for food they must see that there are going to be fair shares for all and that during the Present Food Crisis they will have to accept a tighter control by some sort of international body.

Mr. Collins asked the Minister of Food whether, in view of the Food Crisis in Germany, he will permit the sending, by individual British citizens, of food parcels to Germany.

asked the Minister of Food whether, in view of the Food Crisis in Germany, he will permit the sending, by individual British citizens, of food parcels to Germany.

Mr. James Hudson asked the Minister of Food whether he will modify his announcement to permit an increase in the production of whisky and devote, during the Present Food Crisis, the amount of grain which he proposed to allow to the distillers to more useful purposes.

asked the Minister of Food whether he will modify his announcement to permit an increase in the production of whisky and devote, during the Present Food Crisis, the amount of grain which he proposed to allow to the distillers to more useful purposes.

Yet it contains sufficient concrete proposals for providing a new deal in the world food and agricultural situation, and a real hope that when the Present Food Crisis is over, we shall go forward to something very different from what we knew before the war.

It may well be that, at some future time, we shall be involved in a Food Crisis, and I believe that a step of this kind is one way of helping towards such a crisis.

I fear that we shall soon be feeling a Food Crisis.

I have no doubt that a Crisis in Food is coming along which, I believe, will probably make the crisis in fuel fade into insignificance.

A Possible Food Crisis must be considered very carefully in this matter.

The hon. Member said that there will be a Food Crisis; that we are living in a period of general crisis, and this is the final and fatal crisis of the whole system.

We cannot save the food which we ought to have gathered by starving the children for three weeks, and unless this Government is more careful, the Food Crisis will soon be upon us.

I believe we are very much in the same position in regard to food as we were in regard to coal at the end of last summer, and that unless drastic measures are taken, and taken in time, we may blunder into a Food Crisis.

If the Ministry can fix a target for increased production, if the Government could restate the policy contained in the White Paper - incidentally, there is no statement as to how much manpower would be required - if the Government could work out the amount of manpower required and would set a high target for the sake of improving the nutrition in this country, and for staving off a Food Crisis similar to the coal crisis which we have experienced recently, perhaps the public would be persuaded that there is a future for this industry and the Minister would not find it difficult to recruit the necessary men.

Are we to drift on in this dream world until we come to a Food Crisis?

On a longterm view, and without a Food Crisis, I would agree with the Hobhouse Committee.

I warn them that unless these steps are taken in the early part of 1947, the risks of a more Serious Food Crisis than we believe is coming upon us, would be their responsibility.

It was announced in this House, and we were told that one of the major advantages of this agreement was that it would solve many of the economic problems in Germany and lift the danger of a Food Crisis in Germany.

and, in view of the Present Food Crisis in Germany, if he will now state the amount of cured and klondyked herring which it is proposed to export to the Control Commission.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the continued failure of his Department to place contracts for cured and klondyked herring on behalf of the Control Commission for Germany is causing great anxiety in the industry; and, in view of the Present Food Crisis in Germany, if he will now state the amount of cured and klondyked herring which it is proposed to export to the Control Commission.

I would ask the Committee to remember the statement made by hon. Members opposite three months ago, when, with grave and gloomy satisfaction, they foretold that, after our fuel difficulties in the spring, there was a Food Crisis coming this summer, and that, before the harvest was in, we should have run out of our stocks of food, and that by our improvidence we should be landed in a fuel crisis.

We have had to make very great efforts, but we can say that, while unfortunately many countries in Western Europe will suffer, our people will reap this year's harvest without Any Food Crisis coming upon them.

We hope that if will survive any changes that may happen in the future, that it will survive, for example, the ending of Our Immediate Food Crisis or the dollar shortage which, quite naturally, has been one of the prime reasons behind the groundnut scheme in East Africa; or that it will survive, in the Dominion sphere, a change of Government in Australia and New Zealand; or survive, in their own sphere, any change of the side of the House upon which they happen to sit.

Will the Government, in view of the Food Crisis, stop entertaining their friends at the taxpayers' expense; and are these banquets subject to the regulations of the Ministry of Food?

Production went up first to 238,000 tons, then the Food Crisis to which I have referred came upon us, and it went back.

Then the Food Crisis comes along, and once more, conflicting statements, confusion, uncertainty and disorder.

Everything possible is being done to restore and maintain throughout this quarter the ration level in force before the Recent Food Crisis.

and if it is proposed to increase the production for 1948, in view of the Food Crisis.

Mr. Berry asked the Minister of Agriculture what steps have been taken to intensify the drive for food production among allotment holders and gardeners, and will he see that the efforts are maintained as long as the Food Crisis lasts.

I am making a further 220 appeal to the public at a Press conference on 4th February and other publicity measures are being undertaken during the next few weeks and will be continued while the Present Food Crisis lasts.

One of the first lessons that we have to learn from the revelations about the depth of the Food Crisis is that our own agriculture, which has much to contribute towards the solution, requires even more care than it has had in the past.

We have assured the Government of India that we will respond as swiftly and as fully as we can with help in India's Present Food Crisis.

We have assured the Government of India that we shall respond as swiftly andas fully as we can in helping to overcome India's Food Crisis.

Food Crisis, 183–4.

India, Food Crisis, 183–4.

Mr. Alan Lee Williams asked the Minister of Overseas Development what disbursements have been made from the £7·5 million loan made by Her Majesty's Government to assist with India's Food Crisis.

First, the hon. Member for Essex, South-East talked about the developing Food Crisis in East Bengal, which seems to me to have two elements in it.

I hope that the Minister and the Secretary of State now understand that there is deep and widespread concern both in the House and outside about the great Crisis in Our Food-producing industry.

I think that it will be followed by a quite Acute Food Crisis in this country, unless we are very lucky.

It is reckoned that between 7 million and 10 million tons of grain will be required within the next seven months to meet the Present Food Crisis, but an additional 1·6 million tons of fertiliser will have to be found to supply countries whose output will otherwise decline disastrously.

Mr. Redmond asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response Her Majesty's Government are making to the Food Crisis in parts of Africa.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response Her Majesty's Government are making to the Food Crisis in parts of Africa.

Food Crisis (Africa), 607.

The absence of political will to deal with the structural causes of poverty by Governments of the North and South is all too obvious in the growing Food Crisis.

I should like to give the House a brief summary of what the Government have been doing to meet the Immediate Food Crisis in Africa, where the situation is so serious.

There is a temptation at the moment to say, for instance, that the Food Crisis in the continent of Africa is so serious that attention should be concentrated on food crops, to the virtual exclusion of cash crops for export, as if Africans are no longer capable of earning a living.

Does the Minister not regard it as a great tragedy that in places such as Bradford there are large numbers of skilled engineers who could be put to work manufacturing tractors, irrigation and agricultural equipment, trucks and other items which would help to combat the Food Crisis in Ethiopia and elsewhere?

There are forecasts and intelligence reports, not just the global or African predictions of FAO, but a highly sophisticated method by which it is possible to forecast a few months ahead when a Food Crisis will hit a particular area because of what happens on the market, what people are selling and what they are doing with the food that they take to the market.

If we look at the long-term trends, we see that from 1961 to 1970, less than six out of 24 African countries vulnerable to a Food Crisis registered a negative growth or a fall-back in per capita food production, but from 1971 to 1984 only six out of those 24 countries achieved a positive growth of food production per head.

There is no state of Crisis in Food from Britain.

My hon. Friend's initiative was extremely important, having regard to the utter condemnation by the Court of Auditors about the way in which the EEC Commission operated as regards the Food Crisis in Africa last year and the year before.

What is the Government's response to the Food Crisis?

Right hon. and hon. Members particularly the right hon. Member for Castle Point (Sir B. Braine) have mentioned what should be done in the short term because of the Immediate Food Crisis in Poland.

There are 1,000 known disabled people on the list of those who are potentially unable to help themselves and who are consequently victims of the Food Crisis, but who will be helped in this way.

It is strange that the Soviet Union should be facing such a Food Crisis, as this year it has enjoyed a record harvest.

Mrs. Chalker: We have made representations to the Government of Sudan, through the United Kingdom's chairmanship of the donor group in Khartoum, to allow non-government organisations to operate relief activities throughout Sudan to alleviate the Present Food Crisis.

The Food Crisis there has been emerging since last summer.

The Sudanese Government have only just acknowledged that they have a Food Crisis.

I believe that they will appreciate the Government's prompt and effective response to the Current Food Crisis facing a number of countries in Africa.

Of this, over £110 million has been in response to the Present Food Crisis in the six worst affected countries—Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, Angola and Liberia.

However, I would not put it past us to create a policy that would cause some sort of Food Crisis in about 20 or 30 years' time.

In terms of humanitarian assistance, we have made a swift, generous and continuous response to the Present Food Crisis in Africa.

We have contributed more than £53 million in humanitarian relief to Sudan since the beginning of the Present Food Crisis in 1990.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make British cargo aircraft available to meet the Food Crisis in Zaire arising from refugees from Rwanda.

Is she prepared to risk Another Food Crisis by sticking to the dogma that deregulation is all - important?

I suspect that, should there be Another Food Crisis - such as the one in the constituency of the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw - or another food scare, the buck will come straight back to Ministers, with newspapers demanding action by Ministers and not by the Food Standards Agency.

The humanitarian situation in parts of Ethiopia has been exacerbated by severe drought which has led to the emergence of a Major Food Crisis, with almost 5 million people affected.

Trying to get up a food scare against the French is no substitute for Conservative Front Benchers apologising for the Food Crisis over which they presided when they were the Government.

In Zimbabwe, there is a Food Crisis, a fuel crisis, inflation is roaring at 60 per cent.

Although it is being held in the midst of Another Food Crisis, I do not want to dwell for too long on foot and mouth.

Land distribution is also contributing to the Massive Food Crisis that is affecting the country.

Land distribution is also contributing to the massive Food Crisis that is affecting the country.

Whoever wins the forthcoming election will be faced with a Massive Food Crisis, which is unlikely to be alleviated within a 12 to 18-month period, even in the best case scenario.

Whoever wins the forthcoming election will be faced with a massive Food Crisis, which is unlikely to be alleviated within a 12 to 18-month period, even in the best case scenario.

I am sorry about my cough, but I have sought to present a picture of the Impending Food Crisis, regardless of the political outcome, since it will be a major concern over the coming months at the very least.

My Lords, the Government of Zimbabwe have been slow to recognise the Food Crisis and to declare a state of disaster.

As to the impact on the region as a whole, there is a problem in that we have a Food Crisis in Malawi and in Lesotho as well as in Zimbabwe.

I am heartened by that but, at the same time, deeply disappointed by the circumstances in which the current Food Crisis in that country has been allowed to develop.

We deeply regret the economic mismanagement which has led to a Food Crisis.

As regards the Food Crisis in southern Africa, and in particular Zimbabwe, it is important that a different kind of economic management and a sustainable and transparent land reform process are put in place.

The UK Government, with the European Union and the United States, are the biggest providers of emergency food aid to the seven million Zimbabweans now suffering as a result of the region's Food Crisis.

In 2002 the TIP has been doubled to provide for 2 million farming families as part of the co-ordinated response to the Current Food Crisis.

However the increase can in part be attributed to the declining health system, the methodological means of measuring mortality where HIV/AIDS is increasing rapidly, and the Current Food Crisis (where health is compromised by other factors such as increasing poverty, suppressed immune systems and poor nutritional status).

If she will make a statement on the Food Crisis in southern Africa.

We are deeply concerned about the growing Food Crisis in southern Africa and in the Horn of Africa.

Although there is a tragic famine in Ethiopia, they told us that they do not have a Food Crisis, in the sense that there is a huge surplus of cassava in the north and a famine in the south.

176WH The International Development Committee, of which I am a member, is holding an inquiry into the Food Crisis facing southern Africa.

The International Development Committee, of which I am a member, is holding an inquiry into the Food Crisis facing southern Africa.

The first is the Food Crisis in southern Africa.

My Lords, it has been suggested in the press that the Food Crisis in Zimbabwe is entirely due to the policy of the Zimbabwe Government.

The Food Crisis in Zimbabwe is partially the result of government policies - but only partially.

asked Her Majesty's Government: What financial support they are giving to Zimbabwe in the Present Food Crisis.

Thirdly, we need to recognise the dimension that HIV/AIDs has added to the Food Crisis.

It would be a strange way for the international community to address the Food Crisis in southern Africa, much as I would like the bank to be privatised.

The fact that those questions had not been faced meant that the country was vulnerable to the Food Crisis that hit it.

I want to pick up something thatthe hon. Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key) said: although the debate is about southern Africa, the Food Crisis is not limited to that area, but affects other parts of Africa.

However, it is an inescapable fact - I must congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Clydebank and Milngavie on raising the HIV/AIDs crisis - that were it not for the AIDs crisis, the Food Crisis would not be as great.

The Select Committee, of which I am fortunate to be Chairman, will shortly publish a report on our findings drawn from our work on the Food Crisis in southern Africa.

The trucks and their drivers are needed, but it is crucial that the health aspects and the impact that they can have on the Food Crisis in southern Africa are addressed.

Another aspect of commercial farming is the external focus, and I was pleased that when I asked whether the UK supermarket chains should continue to purchase food from southern African countries that are in Food Crisis, all the NGOs that gave evidence to us said yes.

As I was saying, the key thing is that, if there is a Food Crisis, relief food should be bought locally.

Another unforeseen emergency is the Food Crisis affecting 14 million in southern Africa.

In recent years, adverse weather has produced much lower than expected crop yields, leading to the Current Food Crisis.

The AIDs epidemic is increasingly entwined with wider humanitarian crises, such as the Food Crisis in southern Africa and the social disruption caused by the need to migrate to find work as people become more involved in the cash economy.

However, I am not being told that there is an Immediate Food Crisis.

The region is heavily affected by HIV/AIDS, and has also suffered a Food Crisis.

I ask the Minister to make a new assessment of the Food Crisis in Sudan, and to bring it to the public's attention.

The Select Committee report ranges from the Food Crisis, to poverty, HIV/AIDS, early-warning systems, the Department for International Development's response, good governance, the NGOs, and much more.

It is not unusual to say that about what the International Development Committee produces, but in this case it was particularly impressive because it took such an important issue - the Food Crisis - and explored the complexities of the various factors and inter-relationships that make up the crisis.

When she comes to reply, I hope that she will feel able to reassure us on the following concerns: the Food Crisis of southern Africa and the particular vulnerability of Zimbabwe, Angola and Lesotho.

During the Food Crisis that threatened southern Africa last year, the early warning systems failed.

For example, since the conflict in Iraq, we have given extra funding to the Palestinian territories, to Liberia and to deal with the Food Crisis in southern Africa.

It is not just that things in Ethiopia are bad, but that that is against a backdrop almost throughout Africa of Food Crisis, drought, plagues and conflict.

It was interesting to see how Ethiopia has improved its early warning system, which gives advance warning of Food Crisis.

We know from the work of the Select Committee on International Development, among others, that the impact of HIV/AIDs on food security was demonstrated all too clearly during the Recent Food Crisis in southern Africa.

An evaluation of the way in which 12 large British charities responded to the Food Crisis in southern Africa in 2002 has just been published.

If he will make a statement on action being taken in response to the Food Crisis in Zimbabwe.

In addition, I hope that the Government will look at the longer-term strategies to make sure that support programmes in connection with the Food Crisis and other service needs in Zimbabwe remain in place, regardless of what happens at the political level.

I turn now to the oil-for-Food Crisis and scandal to which several hon. Members have referred.

Through DfID, we have contributed £71 million for humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe since the Food Crisis emerged in September 2001, and we continue to provide support to more than 1.

In response to the poverty-related Food Crisis and the increasingly desperate situation caused by HIV and AIDS, DFID has contributed more than £71 million for humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, between 3 million and 5 million people are affected by the Food Crisis as well as the forced clearance of homes by the Government.

In Malawi, there has been a lot of recent attention on the emergence of the Food Crisis.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Food Crisis in southern Africa is made worse by the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS?

Clearly, the Secretary of State deserves considerable credit for the initiatives that he has taken on the southern African Food Crisis.

In relation to the Food Crisis in southern Africa, early warning has helped us to prepare, but the other issue that we must address is dealing with the problem in the long term.

2 million to help deal with the Food Crisis is the largest donor contribution and we are ready to do more if required.

Drought is not the only cause of the Food Crisis in Malawi - a population weakened by AIDs is one that cannot get good agricultural yields.

The overall position is that the United Nations Malawi appeal asked for $88 million, only about half of which was directly related to the Food Crisis; the rest was for funding other development and humanitarian activities.

Only last week we heard about Another Food Crisis in Africa, this time in the republic of Niger.

During the Food Crisis of the 1990s, millions of people who depended on the PDs rations died from starvation.

In Malawi, DFID supports an innovative targeted fertiliser subsidy programme which has enabled the country to move quickly from dependency on maize imports to an export surplus at a time when the region as a whole has been experiencing a Serious Food Crisis.

Much of what the Secretary of State has announced about the Food Crisis is welcome, but is he not somewhat embarrassed by the finding of a report produced by his own Department last year that Ministers have failed to support agriculture in the developing world?

There will be a Food Crisis in Burma for months to come.

Although I am sure that biofuels are not the only or main reason for the Current Food Crisis facing the world, using land currently utilised for agricultural purposes to grow fuel - almost literally - can only exacerbate the problem.

I hope that I have demonstrated the validity of my two main propositions: first, that in dealing with the Food Crisis in Africa, we must restore aid for agriculture to the top of the aid agenda; and, secondly, that this must include the best agricultural science, not consisting solely of, but certainly including, biotechnology.

For them, this global Food Crisis will serve only to deepen the extreme hardship in their lives.

To mention just one organisation in this country, Save the Children is appealing for $20 million to help around 900,000 people, including 325,000 children, who are victims of the Current Food Crisis in Ethiopia.

His predecessor, Kofi Annan, also recently remarked that the world Food Crisis threatens to destroy years of economic progress and may push millions back into abject poverty.

The noble Lord reasonably asked why we did not see the Food Crisis coming.

The insecurity that I have described is made worse by the Food Crisis, which is a global problem.

That will be done through a new partnership which will come together to co-ordinate all of those with a stake in the Food Crisis, whether they be the consumer or producer.

Of course there is a challenge - as we are witnessing in the Present Food Crisis - to ensure that all the mouths that are here now and in the future receive adequate food and adequate support.

In highlighting the potential impact of the Food Crisis, we recognise that poor nutrition is estimated to be an underlying cause in more than one-third of all deaths in children under five.

With the Food Crisis in Zimbabwe reaching very serious proportions and, as we have heard, a new Government still not formed, what specific plans - British, EU, Commonwealth or other - exist for a serious humanitarian relief effort, if the political crisis continues to escalate but the supply situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate?

What is DFID doing to support the people of Zimbabwe through the brave and determined NGOs on the ground, and what precautionary steps is it taking in the face of the looming Food Crisis there?

The challenge from climate change, the financial crisis and the world Food Crisis are more than sufficient to reverse this.

The Food Crisis and the global recession have exacerbated this.

In other words, it seems to me that, looking forward over the next 20 or 30 years, we are facing a Massive Food Crisis that will affect all of us.

The world will get over a credit crunch, however painful, but it will not get over a Food Crisis of Malthusian proportions.

More recently, during the Food Crisis, the Agriculture Minister and Kalenjin leader, William Ruto, was suspected of allocating tenders for famine relief to his cronies.

Looking at the Food Crisis and at the dependent territories and others, you realise that almost all those who are in trouble had investment in development that took place because of what they had to offer and the added value that could be created.

The WFP requested $5 billion to meet last year's Food Crisis.

Josette Sheeran has said that the Food Crisis is not over.

Since the report was published, international action to address the Food Crisis has continued, although this has now become inextricably linked to efforts to mitigate the impact of the global economic crisis, particularly on developing countries.

Our current portfolio of projects and other activities tops £1 billion, and since the FAO food summit last June, we have committed more than £900 million in response to the Food Crisis.

We are therefore pressing for progress on education, health, basic services and the alleviation of hunger and, lately, for an understanding of the Food Crisis of 2008 in the developing world.

In 2008, DFID committed initial funding of £600,000, specifically to address the Food Crisis in Chin state.

Again, this has been identified by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and several international institutions as a key cause of the Food Crisis by increasing the demand for crops such as grain and corn and increasing competition for land between food and fuel producers.

First, on humanitarian aid, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in October that we would provide £39 million of extra funding to tackle the Food Crisis across the horn of Africa, bringing Britain's total new commitments for 2009 to £83 million.

Developing countries are also dealing with a Food Crisis.

In 2008 the Food Crisis that occurred started a trend towards something very worrying for a country that imports 50% of its food - protectionism.

Does she agree that, yet again, the response to what is clearly a desperately Serious Food Crisis has come too late-indeed, only after disaster has struck and thousands of desperate people have been forced to seek food and refuge in refugee camps?

In welcoming the £38 million in British aid announced this week to help the millions facing starvation in the horn of Africa, may I ask for a debate on the Food Crisis affecting our fellow human beings there?

The whole House will be extremely concerned about the Food Crisis currently affecting the horn of Africa.

The Food Crisis has, I am afraid, got much worse.

I also recognise the work of a Scottish charity, Mary's Meals, which has launched an emergency relief response in Somalia as part of its latest effort to support starving people affected by the Food Crisis across east Africa.

Let me turn briefly to events in Somalia, where a tragic Food Crisis has emerged in recent months.

There is now a growing Food Crisis in the west of Africa.

For the UK, for example, aid channelled through the European Union is supporting countries across west Africa, some of the poorest in the world, which are currently experiencing a critical Food Crisis where DfID does not have significant bilateral programming.

The Food Crisis in west Africa is a test of the new policy.

The Food Crisis - I say that with no exaggeration at all - that the planet faces and that this country will face is at least as big a concern as climate change and, dare I say it, is a bigger concern than the economic crisis.

One of the most dangerous consequences of a Food Crisis is malnutrition, which often hits children first, and the most vulnerable children at that.

The Food Crisis is not just about food; it affects a child's health, mental well-being, education and future.

Secondly, there is a Food Crisis: 250 million people in Africa are undernourished, and food production in Africa is reported to have dropped by 10% in the past 50 years.

First, I want to praise the many individuals and organisations stepping up to the mark to address this unprecedented Food Crisis.

I want to give hon. Members a flavour of the nature and extent of the Food Crisis that faces people in my constituency.

” I urge the Government to assess robustly the nature and scale of the Food Crisis faced by the poor and vulnerable in our society and, more importantly, to do something about it.

Therefore, I have considerable sympathy with my right honourable friend in dealing with a Food Crisis of this kind.

Horsemeat in my view is only the beginning of This Food Crisis, if we do not face up to the realities of rising food prices and become the champion of the consumer.

It seems counterintuitive that while sub-Saharan Africa is facing an Impending Food Crisis, according to Action Aid, more and more land is being switched from food production to growing crops for biofuels.

Indeed, it was pointed out to us in evidence that the UK is only three or four days away from a Food Crisis at any one time.

I sometimes think that Governments - I am not referring to the UK Government - should take some time to read the book of Genesis to see what Joseph did during the Food Crisis that affected Egypt for many years.

With the rainy season about to start, any planting will cease, turning the country's Acute Food Crisis into a long-term problem, as the FAO has said.

Will the Minister apologise for the Government's staggering complacency in the face of a Food Crisis in which an advanced nation cannot feed its working poor and its vulnerable, or will he join again the collective chorus of denial in the dying days of this Government?

The Food Crisis in Egypt was the precursor to the Arab spring; the situation was the same in Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world.

They have been involved in helping churches and other voluntary groups respond to the Food Crisis on the ground, using their resources, contacts and expertise in partnership to make a difference to people in need in deprived areas.

He said that this would have emerged as a Food Crisis, had there been any serious issue.

Given the need for forward planning mentioned by my hon. Friendthe Member for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan), what steps is he taking to make sure that DFID can support such organisations in responding to the Food Crisis?