Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help eradicate world hunger.

DFID puts the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, at the centre of our work to eradicate extreme poverty, deliver inclusive economic development and build resilience.

Spend through our bilateral and multilateral agriculture programmes to reduce hunger and under-nutrition has increased, from £243million (2012) to £484 million (2015) and roughly £600 million in 2016. We are also working to shape the multilateral agenda. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program harness both public and private investments for SDG2 and implements through a range of multilateral institutions.

DFID is a global leader in addressing acute hunger through humanitarian and famine relief. DFID has also committed to improve the nutrition of 50 million people overseas by 2020 and published a Position Paper setting out our plans. Total spend on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programmes has increased, from £304 million (2012) to £667 million (2015).

We are also supporting robust monitoring of progress against the agreed indicators for SDG2 to be achieved by 2030.