Hunger is one of the greatest scourges facing the world at present. The United Nations has defined its eradication (together with poverty) as the greatest of all its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which it wants to achieve by 2015.

To set about reaching these goals, and to respond to the global food crisis, the European Union (EU) has allocated €1 billion for its Food Facility programme following a commitment made at the G8 of Hokkaido in 2008. The main aims of the programme are to support agriculture, to improve food security and to protect vulnerable population groups.

The specific projects funded by the programme are providing financial support to 50 developing countries (mainly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa), in partnership with other international and local actors (such as the Food and Agriculture Organization).  

To illustrate this policy exclusive audiovisual material is now available for journalists:
·         An extensive B-roll featuring interviews with local farmers in Zambia and Bangladesh and topical images from these countries
·         A concrete example of a successful project funded by the EU in Zambia, where inhabitants of a small village are able to make a living from agriculture
·         An embankment-building project in Bangladesh, a country regularly hit by natural disasters (floods, cyclones, storms, etc.), which will have a direct impact on the harvests of local farmers.