Thousands of column inches and hours of TV coverage will be devoted to Sport Relief on 23-25 March, and powerful brands will play an important role in it. But support for good causes is not just the domain of big players.

While there is a lot of media attention given to the food and drink industry’s responsibility to tackle obesity in the UK, the sector is rarely challenged to address hunger. Yet, in my view, the problem of hunger demands even more focus, energy and investment. After all, hunger is number one on the list of the world’s top 10 health risks: it kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and TB combined. Shockingly, a quarter of our world’s children are undernourished.

Unearthed donates 1p for every pack sold to Action Against Hunger UK, which means we can make a commitment but are never paying more than we can afford. The money is split between specific project funding and a general donation.

I recently visited the Unearthed-funded Action Against Hunger projects in Zambia where I met families who neither had the money to buy enough food nor the land and means of production to grow it for themselves. Many were trying to survive on one poor quality meal per day.

It is a difficult problem influenced by healthcare, land ownership, political will, education, investment, civil society and many other factors, besides food. The problem can seem insurmountable but that fact is taht projects such as those organised by Action Against Hunger and funded by Unearthed - which focus on income generation - are improving the food security of many vulnerable families.

One grandmother who showed me around had used the small loan we provided to buy materials and stock for her market stall. In among dried fish, beans, grapefruit-sized tomatoes and cooking oil, she was selling charcoal, knitted seat covers and pretty much everything else besides!

She was supporting eight grandchildren single-handedly. Food parcels relieved some of the immediate pressure and allowed her to invest the loan in her profitable business. She was already repaying significantly more than the minimum when I met her, motivated by knowing her repayments could be given as a new loan to another family.

The problem of hunger is huge and complex but our industry has great tools to help, such as 0ur nutritional knowledge, agricultural expertise, business experience, logistics networks, marketing knowhow and resources for NPD and research.

We also occupy a unique position in relation to consumers: people are eating our foods and drinking our drinks every day of every year. In these moments of purchase, preparation and consumption, what better time to raise their awareness of those who do not enjoy the same privilege?

Getting involved need not be entirely selfless: joining together in the fight to end hunger can generate staff motivation, PR and help with contact-building. It has been a rewarding time for us and I would encourage more food and drink businesses to join the effort to end hunger.

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