Britain allocates £67m to boost world’s agricultural supplies in bid to combat rural food poverty

Britain will send £67 million in aid to a body trying to improve the world’s agricultural supplies in an attempt to help stop the food crisis reaching “unconscionable proportions”.

The money will go to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad), which supports more than 100 million people in rural areas across the globe, over the next three years.

Food poverty is on the rise, with the number of people facing a serious lack of nutrition up 34 per cent since 2021.

“On average, around one in five people in Africa face hunger.

Ifad, of which the UK is a founding member, has programs aimed at improving food security, helping protect the planet and empowering women and girls.

‘Serious food security crisis’

Andrew Mitchell, the minister for development and Africa who attends the Cabinet, is announcing the new funding in The Telegraph.

Mr Mitchell said: “Christmas is a good moment to reflect that the world is in the throes of a serious food security crisis.

“Feeding the world may sound like a cliche at this time of year, but hunger and malnutrition are a scourge, putting lives and livelihoods under grave threat.

“The tragic irony is that we live in a world of plenty. It is scandalous that anyone should go to bed hungry for reasons that we have the power to fix.

“That is why the UK is investing £66.7 million in Ifad’s work for the next three years.

“Simple steps like better land management and smarter farming practices can help produce more crops and reduce waste.

“Renewable technology will help farmers rise to the climate challenge in a way that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and protects the natural environment.

“We must act before the food crisis reaches unconscionable proportions.

‘We need to increase food production’

“In less than 30 years’ time. there will be two billion more mouths to feed in the world than there are today. We urgently need to increase food production and make food systems sustainable.”

The UK in recent years has spent less on overseas development than when the Tories first took office back in 2010, when Lord Cameron was Tory leader and prime minister.

Back then, Lord Cameron had made the promise to spend 0.7 per cent of the country’s GDP on foreign aid a flagship pledge, with Tory strategists seeing it as showing how the party had modernised.

But Rishi Sunak as chancellor effectively abandoned the approach, which had been written into law, during the pandemic, announcing that the UK for now would spend 0.5 per cent instead.

While the 0.7 per cent target theoretically remains, the Government says it will only return to that level when the public finances have improved.

No specifics have been named for when that might happen.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, recently said he did not expect the 0.7 per cent level to be readopted in the next five years.

Both Mr Mitchell and Lord Cameron, two of the most prominent Tory advocates for foreign aid spending in the last decade, have accepted Mr Sunak’s approach since returning to ministerial posts.

Projects that have been supported by Ifad include helping farmers to get higher yields through enhanced soil and pest management, fertiliser use and better quality seeds.

‘We are grateful for the UK’s generous contribution’

Others have helped women rural farmers grow more food, get better access to markets, increase their income, improve their literacy and become more financially skilled.

Alvaro Lario, president of Ifad, said: “We are grateful to the United Kingdom for their generous contribution to Ifad’s 13th Replenishment, which confirms their unwavering commitment to eradicating rural poverty and hunger.

“This contribution will further strengthen our long-standing partnership, a relationship that has played a vital role in transforming the livelihoods of millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable rural people.

“The UK’s pioneering investments in small-scale agriculture climate adaptation have been instrumental in empowering smallholder farmers and building resilient food systems in the face of climate change.”