The United States Agency for International Development on Monday announced that it will provide $15 million (nearly Rs 120 crore) to Nepal as part of its efforts to address the global food crisis.

The US Embassy in Kathmandu said that the aid is part of the $2.76 billion (over Rs 22,000 crore) to protect “vulnerable populations from the escalating global crisis worsened by Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine”. US President Joe Biden had pledged the amount during the G7 Leaders’ Summit held in Germany in June.

“In Nepal, the supplemental funding will help ensure that people affected by rising prices and food shortages have enough to eat,” the US Agency for International Development said in a statement. “Activities include supporting small farms to produce more food locally and households in need of food assistance. These funds will also support nutrition-enhanced food for children under the age of five and pregnant women.”

The funding will help Nepal in meeting its goal of reducing poverty, hunger and malnutrition, the statement added.

“This continues 75 years of the Nepal-United States partnership and our ongoing health and food security assistance programmes,” it said.

Nepal is ranked 76 in a list of 116 countries in the 2021 Global Hunger Index. The Global Hunger Index is a peer-reviewed annual report published jointly by Irish humanitarian agency Concern Worldwide and German non-profit organisation Welthungerhilfe.

The country, which largely depends on farming, is hit by a fertiliser crisis after the Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, the Kathmandu Post reported.