Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments and also for his compliments to the government for the $50 million. We have a very responsible government and certainly want to do our part on the world stage. We have been doing very well in that respect.
I have a few comments to which I would like the member opposite to respond. One of the quotes I want to talk about is by Dan Gustafson. When we are talking about the high prices for food, he is quoted as saying that “the high prices also provide an incentive for governments, hopefully in sub-Saharan Africa, to re-invest in agricultural production”. He said that “farming is now seen as a business opportunity, not simply an issue of food security”.
The article I am quoting from states:
For the first time in 25 years the World Bank is focusing on agriculture. Its 2008 World Development Report is subtitled Agriculture for Development. The report states that farming has been ignored for too long as a pathway to global development.
I have one other comment I would like to make that comes from this article:
A dynamic 'agriculture for development' agenda can benefit the estimated 900 million rural people in the developing world who live on less than $1 a day, most of whom are engaged in agriculture.
Robert Zoellick, World Bank President, said in a news release, “We need to give agriculture more prominence across the board”.
Being the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, I think that agriculture can help a heck of a lot of these countries. I would like to hear the comments of the member opposite.