The Government is committed to giving effect to the recommendations of the report of the hunger task force which we commissioned and which was launched by the Taoiseach at the UN in New York in September 2008 in the presence of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In particular, we continue to work on the three priority areas identified, namely, increasing smallholder agricultural productivity in Africa; targeting under-nutrition, especially maternal and infant; and promoting governance and leadership action on tackling global hunger.
Combating hunger is one of the cornerstones of our development programme and our foreign policy. We are making good progress in implementing the recommendations of the hunger task force report across the overseas development assistance programme funded and delivered through my Department. Ireland's special envoy on hunger, Kevin Farrell, will report on delivery against our objectives later this year. We have undertaken to direct approximately 20% of my Department's Irish Aid budget at hunger and hunger-related actions by 2012. We are firmly on track to meet this target notwithstanding the current difficult economic circumstances.
Irish Aid funding for global hunger initiatives, including pro-poor agricultural research, is expected to reach €9.7 million this year. Global hunger initiatives are just one area of the overall response to hunger. Additional resources are now being focused on hunger reduction initiatives in our programme countries, particularly Malawi and Tanzania.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
These and many other interventions in the food security and hunger areas, funded by Ireland, are clear demonstrations of our leadership on the hunger issue. This leadership has been recognised internationally, including by the United Nations and other key hunger donors such as the United States.
I have said many times that it is unacceptable that 1 billion people go to bed each evening without proper nourishment. We established the hunger task force before food and hunger was put back firmly on the international agenda by the food crisis. Our hunger task force report has played a role in keeping hunger in the public eye internationally. We are doing our utmost to influence the hunger agenda internationally. Next September we will co-host with the US a major hunger event in the margins of the UN summit on the millennium development goals. This is a practical example of Ireland shaping and influencing the international response to the scandal of world hunger.
Hunger, in all its manifestations and complexity, will not be easily eliminated. We have a clear international target to halve the number of hungry people by 2015. This will be real progress if achieved. To make this happen will necessitate the commitment and will of the international community, combined with an equal determination by the governments of the developing world. The Government will ensure that Ireland will play its role in all efforts to eradicate the scourge of hunger.