Climate Change: Agriculture

Mr. Andrew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what research his Department is undertaking to examine the effectiveness of agricultural adaption to climate change in low income countries.

Mr. Thomas
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), to which DFID contributes £20 million per year, has been researching how effectively farmers in low income countries cope with the effects of climatic variability for nearly four decades. CGIAR centres have strong capabilities in crop breeding, natural resources management and policy development, which have been used to help farmers deal with vulnerability.

CGIAR centres are increasing their research on areas affected by climate change.