India remains strongly committed to cause of global food security: India's envoy at UN

New York , March 12 : India remains strongly committed to the cause of global food security, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti said on Thursday (local time).

Speaking at United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open debate on conflict and food security, the Indian envoy said, "India remains strongly committed to the cause of global food security and has over the last several years contributed to UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in response to several humanitarian crises. 

Further, India has always stepped forward to extend aid amounting to millions of tonnes of food grains to several vulnerable countries across the world. In 2019 alone, the WFP sourced approximately 11,000 metric tons of pulses, sorghum, wheat, and rice from India to assist vulnerable populations." Tirumurti informed the UNSC that India in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic provided food aid in the form of thousands of metric tonnes of wheat, rice, pulses and lentils to several countries across the world, including Myanmar, Maldives, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Lebanon, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe and many others, to strengthen their food security in these challenging times.