The UK was the 3rd largest European government donor to agriculture (incl. forestry, fishing) and rural development in 2010, spending US$782 million (£488 million) in gross ODA. While 41% (US$319 million or £199 million) of this amount was bilateral ODA, 59% (US$462 million or £289 million) were channeled through multilateral institutions. However, contributions to the World Bank and the EU that are counted as ODA for agriculture inflate this contribution. Although support increased in absolute terms by 87% between 2007 and 2010, ODA to agriculture represented only 5.5% of the UK’s total ODA in 2010. DFID has developed a new strategy focused on nutrition that highlights important linkages between nutrition, food security and agriculture.

At the 2009 G8 meeting in L’Aquila, DFID committed an additional £1.1 billion (US$1.7 billion) to food security and agriculture for the period 2009/2010-2011/2012, and exceeded its commitments by disbursing £1.2 billion (US$1.9 billion). The UK is a top donor to the World Food Programme (WFP) providing US$202 million (£127 million) in 2012 (this is considered humanitarian aid). In July 2012, the UK pledged £75 million (US$116 million) over three years to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), which was set up to assist in implementing the G8’s L’Aquila pledges.

More information on: Bilateral and multilateral funding for agriculture

More information on: Strategic frameworks and current portfolio