Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent the extinction of the banana plant.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID is investing in technologies to identify ways to control the spread of banana diseases, including Panama Disease, in Africa and Asia, as part of a global effort to tackle this problem.
DFID is major funder of the international research organisation, the Consultative group on International Agricultural Research (CCIAR), which is currently working to address Panama Disease (TR4) as well as other emerging disease and pest threats in developing countries.
Although the disease cannot currently be eradicated, this research aims to develop effective control measures and to identify banana varieties that are not susceptible to the disease. These are being tested in countries like Mozambique and Myanmar that are already affected by Panama Disease.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much aid has been given to countries affected by the Ebola epidemic in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK has provided £65.7 million in 2011, £73 million in 2012 and £82.4 million in 2013 of direct, bilateral Official Development Assistance to countries affected by Ebola (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea). Additional aid to these countries has been provided by the UK through the multilateral aid system.