Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle food insecurity in Southern Africa.

Southern Africa’s unprecedented El Nino-related drought has triggered a second year of hunger and hardship. More than 31 million people are estimated to be food-insecure across the region. DFID was one of the first donors to respond to the crisis and has already increased the levels of our humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zambia. We have also allocated additional funding to support the regional response. As well as responding to the immediate humanitarian needs, we will have increased our efforts to ensure our programme portfolios continue to build resilience and preparedness.

DFID is using its influence within the international community to encourage the scaling up of support and to strengthen coordination regionally and at country level. We are also using our influence with partner governments to advocate for the logistical measures to improve the transport of supplies into and within the region.