The Government is to allocate €8 million to fund overseas research into agricultural development and to projects tackling child undernutrition, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore announced today.
The money will be spent on projects being carried out by aid agencies and development organisations including the United Nations and the World Food Programme.
Mr Gilmore said Ireland has met the target it set itself in 2008 of investing 20 per cent of the Irish aid budget in programmes aimed at tackling global hunger by 2012.
Speaking at the launch of Concern Worldwide’s campaign“1,000 Days of Baby Nutrition” in Dublin today, Mr Gilmore said Ireland had become a leading advocate internationally for urgent action to tackle hunger.
“Irish people have shown, by their generosity, time and time again that we will not ignore the plight of the poorest and most vulnerable– even during difficult times at home,” he said.
The funding will be used to provide assistance to smallholder farmers, particularly women; fund pro-poor research which is designed to increase agricultural productivity and enhance the livelihoods of poor farmers and support the UN high level taskforce on food security.
The Government has pledged to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid by 2015.