Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much financial support her Department has provided to organisations based in (a) India, (b) Sri Lanka, (c) Nepal and (d) Afghanistan to help tackle hunger in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

In India, the FCDO provided £8.6 million in food assistance and basic nutrition support over 2016-2020, and is supporting the Samridhi Fund to invest in the farming sector and contribute to reducing hunger.

In Sri Lanka, the UK provides support as one of the largest donors to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). CERF provided food assistance through cash transfers to 21,788 people during the drought in 2017, and this year is supporting 22,034 people.

In Nepal, the UK's broad development programme contributes to reducing hunger through our humanitarian, nutrition, climate resilience and livelihoods work. For example, in 2020-21 the UK provided £5.28 million to support 204,296 women and children, including through a feeding programme.

Afghanistan remains one of the world's most severe food security crises. Over 2016-2020, the FCDO provided at least £50.3 million towards food assistance and basic nutrition, and has dispersed £159 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan since August 2021.