Food Poverty: Coronavirus

(asked on 5th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address food insecurity around the world exacerbated by COVID-19.


Answered by
Baroness Sugg Portrait
Baroness Sugg
This question was answered on 19th May 2020

The UK is repurposing programmes in agriculture, social protection and humanitarian assistance to tackle the factors driving COVID-19 induced food insecurity in developing countries. We are a major funder of existing multilateral programmes in these areas, including the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. We have committed £15m to the World Food Programme’s recent urgent appeals. The recent £7.5m contribution to the Food and Agriculture Organisation will help fight the locust plague in East Africa. We are assessing potential trends in the COVID-19 exacerbated impacts on agriculture and food security, for example, through our bilateral Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness programme. We are learning the lessons from previous crises and are sharing the evidence for improved action. In all of this, we continue to put the poorest and most marginalised at the heart of our programmes to address the underlying causes of chronic hunger.

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