To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on what date his Department commenced funding for the Crop Post Harvest programme; what his Department's total expenditure has been on the programme; which projects have been funded by the programme; which institutions are funded to carry out each project in the programme and what amounts have been allocated by his Department to each and over what period in each case; in which country each project was based; what the outcome has been of each project; what assessment he has made of the impact on host harvest crop losses and other gains; and what the closing date is for his Department's funding for the programme. (140874)

DFID started funding the crop post harvest programme (CPHP) in April 1995. The programme was designed to run for 10 years, until March 2005. However an additional year was added from April 2005 to March 2006 to allow for greater dissemination of findings. Total expenditure was £28,529,870.

A total of 170 projects were completed up until 2005 and a full list with details of each project is available at:

http://www.cphp.uk.com/projects/default.asp?step=11

or through DFID's searchable research database at:

http://www.research4development.info/index.asp.

CPHP was evaluated as part of the overall evaluation of the renewable natural resources research strategy (RNRRS 1995-2006) by an external independent team which found the outputs of the CPHP to be:

"...impressive and demonstrate well-planned and conducted studies." (annex 10, page 355).

The full report is available at:

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/aboutdfid/performance/files/ev659.asp.