‘Hope for Poorest of Poor’

Your editorial reminds us that “a stitch in time saves nine.”

The agreement of the industrialized nations to the replenishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development at 60%, with the oil-producing nations providing 40%, means millions of the poorest people in the world will continue to have a chance to climb out of poverty.

Successes in the program have come from providing small groups of people with small loans that they can use to start the tiniest of businesses--businesses that fill needs in their own communities.

And the repayment of the debts has been astonishingly good. It seems that this program can accomplish more than some of the other more expensive kinds.

MARY BORGERDING

Pasadena