Department of Agriculture provides over €4m in funding to the UN

The Department of Agriculture will provide €4.34m in development funding to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for 2025.

This is in addition to the upcoming payment of Ireland’s €35m commitment to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for 2026.

Announcing the funding, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said that the 2025 State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report confirms that global hunger remains at crisis levels.

Over 670 million people are still hungry and more than two billion are unable to afford a healthy diet.

"Ireland stands with those communities and our multilateral partners WFP and FAO, ensuring that this funding supports local agri-food systems, nutrition and resilience. Agriculture remains central to achieving the shared goal of ending hunger and malnutrition," he said.

Food insecurity

Hunger is driven by conflict, climate shocks and economic pressure, Minister Heydon added.

"Food insecurity remains well above pre-pandemic levels, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Ireland’s funding to WFP and FAO responds to this reality. It delivers life-saving assistance now, while strengthening sustainable food systems where the need is greatest," he said.

WFP executive director Cindy McCain said that Ireland has been a longstanding and committed partner to WFP.

"These increased contributions will bolster our ability to deliver lifesaving aid to the millions threatened by starvation due to conflict, extreme weather and economic instability.

"As Ireland prepares to assume the presidency of the [European] Council in 2026, our collaboration is more important than ever to ensure that support for effective humanitarian assistance remains high on the global agenda in the coming year," she said.