Food security: EU to step up its support to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The European Commission adopted today a proposal to mobilise €600 million from the reserves of the European Development Fund to address the current food security crisis aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These funds will support African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to cope with the dire situation, through humanitarian assistance (€150 million), sustainable production and resilience of food systems (€350 million) and macro-economic support (€100 million).

The Commission proposes to direct the €600 million mobilised from the European Development Fund reserves to support the most affected African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. This will address different dimensions of the crisis by sustaining:

• Humanitarian assistance: €150 million for cash assistance whenever appropriate and where possible, support through existing social protection and safety nets mechanisms.
• Food production and resilience of food systems: €350 million in the medium to long term to support investments in sustainable production to underpin more resilient food systems, including social sustainability (youth and women).
• Macro-economic support: €100 million for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PGRT) of the IMF, which will facilitate support to affected countries. EU support to the PRGT is part of a Team Europe approach and the additional contribution is expected to incentivise other donors to contribute as well.

These €600 million to contribute to the EU Global Food Security Response to help tackle the food crisis, comes on top on top of already mobilised humanitarian assistance worldwide, and funds from NDICI-Global Europe earmarked for projects on sustainable agriculture, basic nutrition, water and sanitation, and social safety protection, amounting to over €2 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa and another €1 billion for the Southern Neighbourhood partners, that complement the EU’s Food and Resilience Facility worth €225 million in support of this region. Another €960 million are foreseen under NDICI-Global Europe for Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia until 2024.

Source: European Commission