Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment he has made of the food security situation in Zambia following the recent drought.

We are concerned about the food security situation in the Republic of Zambia and welcome President Hichilema's early action declaring a State of National Disaster and Emergency due to drought. This drought will have huge humanitarian and economic impacts across the country, with approximately 1 million of the 2.2 million hectares of planted maize crops already destroyed, affecting many farming households. On 6 March, the UK rapidly deployed a Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team to help build technical capacity and support the response. We will continue to monitor the situation and support the Republic of Zambia.