Lord St John of Bletso Crossbench: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to provide aid to assist in alleviating the impact of the current drought in Zimbabwe.
Baroness Verma The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development: The UK was one of the first to respond widespread food insecurity resulting from a poor 2015 harvest and the emerging El Niño. Since September 2015, we have been supporting over 350 000 people in the worst affected areas, through cash transfers, in a £15m programme ending in July 2016.
An estimated 2.8 million people currently face food insecurity in Zimbabwe, so the UK is also helping to build their longer term resilience to future droughts. Our programmes provide training to smallholder farmers strengthening their ability to cope with the effects of climate change; and supporting them to grow drought resistant crops – such as ground nuts, sesame and mung bean for sale to the market.
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