On Wednesday, local MP, Caroline Spelman, questioned The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone) in the House of Commons about poor farmers’ property rights. Caroline asked: “Food security in west Africa is indeed threatened by climate change. Does the Minister also agree that the Prime Minister’s insistence on addressing the property rights of the world’s poorest farmers tackles one of the underlying causes of food insecurity?”
The Minister responded: “The Prime Minister is quite right. The work that we are doing to give land title to smallholders means that they have security and can work their land without it being taken from them.” She then explained that the UK is working to promote transparency of land administration and security of tenure in a number of countries.
Afterwards, Caroline said: “I asked the question on food security because there is a real risk of price spikes this year following the bad weather. I’m sure all consumers have noticed the rising cost of food here but just imagine what it’s like in the poorest parts of the world! The PM has said we need to help tackle the problem of the lack of property rights for poor farmers in developing countries as a land grab is on. We are due to host the world’s richest nations here at the G8 summit and the PM has said he will hold a special event on hunger and malnutrition. There is a new campaign called IF, which seeks to ensure that there is enough food for everyone. I now proudly wear the wristband.”
There is more information on the IF Campaign at the following link: https://www.concern.net/en/get-involved/campaign-with-us/IF .