TaxPayers’ Alliance reveals more than half a billion in foreign aid for farmers

Nov 22 2024

For immediate release

The TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group have today revealed more than £500 million in foreign aid grants for international farmers. As first revealed in a front page story in the Daily Express, £536.4 million is being spent on ten active funding programmes focused on supporting farmers and farming communities abroad. These programmes cover varying time periods.

The news comes after the chancellor made changes to agricultural and business relief in the budget, sparking significant protests. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the policy to bring in £500 million annually by 2028-29.

The programme with the largest budget is the “Support to the Global Agricultural and Food Security Programme.” This is receiving £206 million in funding from October 2012 to June 2031. The aim of the programme is “to improve agricultural productivity in developing countries and to increase farmers’ access to markets while increasing the economic resilience of poor people globally.”

In 2024/25 alone, the UK is spending £110 million on agricultural foreign aid projects and £445 million on environmental foreign aid projects.

GOV Department	Receiving Country	Grant name	Description	Total budget (£)	Start date	End date
Defra	Brazil	Low-carbon Agriculture for avoided deforestation and poverty reduction Phase II (Rural Sustentavel)	Restore deforested and degraded land on small- and medium-sized farms and promote low-carbon agriculture practices.	37,420,000	04-Oct-21	01-Dec-26
FCDO	Ghana	Agriculture Transformation in Ghana	Economic transformation in Ghana through developing markets for agriculture and trade	921,134.00	13-Jan-20	01-Jun-25
FCDO	Africa, regional, Asia, regional, Developing countries, unspecified, Kenya, South Africa	Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness	Supports small and medium-sized (SME) agribusinesses with smallholder supply chains to grow	61,422,490	14-Jun-17	31-Mar-26
FCDO	Somalia	Supporting Inclusive Growth in Somalia (SIGS)	Accelerated support to key Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (MSME) sectors, including domestic food production	38,136,174	21-Aug-20	31-Mar-27
FCDO	Rwanda	Sustainable Inclusive Livelihoods through Tea Production in Rwanda	Farmers will be supported in producing tea for the first time, employing best farming practices, including understanding and managing climate risk and variability.	16,300,066	24-Aug-16	31-Mar-29
FCDO	Developing countries, unspecified	Support to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP)	To improve agricultural productivity in developing countries and to increase farmers' access to markets whilst increasing the economic resilience of poor people globally	205,999,999	02-Oct-12	30-Jun-31
FCDO	Developing countries, unspecified, Kenya	AgDevCo Ventures - targeting early-stage enterprises in the agriculture sector to scale up activities	AgDevCo deploys patient capital and technical assistance to build profitable businesses that contribute to food security, drive economic growth and, create jobs and income in rural areas and contribute to farmers’ resilience to climate change	24,249,996	24-Oct-24	31-Mar-35
FCDO	Tanzania	Productivity for Prosperity (P4P)	P4P will initially prioritise the agro-processing and horticulture sectors and will provide flexible support to bolster the UK’s current and future prosperity objectives.	36,599,995	11-Aug-21	31-Dec-27
DEFRA	Bhutan, Brazil, Colombia, Developing countries, unspecified, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Tanzania	Land Degradation Neutrality Fund	The fund invests in sustainable agriculture, forestry, and other land uses globally. The Fund was launched at the UNCCD’s COP 13 in China in 2017.	10,000,000	12-Dec-19	12-Dec-34

Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

“British farmers will be outraged to hear that foreign farmers are getting more support from the government than they are.

“Labour has announced a change in inheritance tax that will see many farmers lose their livelihoods and farms that have been in their families for generations. All for the sake of a few pennies.

“Reeves should cut funding to farms abroad and focus on supporting British farmers who directly contribute to their communities and our country’s food security .”

TPA spokespeople are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast interviews via 07795 084 113 (no texts)

Media contact:

Elliot Keck
Head of Campaigns, TaxPayers' Alliance
[email protected]
24-hour media hotline: 07795 084 113 (no texts)

Notes to editors:

Founded in 2004 by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) campaigns to reform taxes and public services, cut waste and speak up for British taxpayers. Find out more at www.taxpayersalliance.com.
TaxPayers' Alliance's research council.
Methodological note: these programmes are all sourced from DevTracker, the official UK government database of foreign aid programmes. The £536.4 million in ten foreign aid programmes for farmers identified cover varying time periods. For 2024/25 alone, the UK government spent £110 million on aid for agricultural programmes and £445 million on aid for environmental programmes.