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The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $9.7 million grant for farmers in India as part of a $120 million programme for agriculture uplift in endemically poor regions of the world
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been active in fighting child and infectious diseases in poor countries and has committed $1.4 billion to agricultural development efforts to date, will donate a total of $120 million in nine grants aimed at boosting agricultural production, marketing and farming expertise in the developing world. Announcing the new programme at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, Bill Gates said the world must draw inspiration from the agricultural transformation in some countries like India in the 1960s to 1980s -- known as the Green Revolution -- which averted famine, saved hundreds of millions of lives and fuelled widespread economic development. The World Food Prize honours individuals each year who make significant contributions to alleviating hunger and improving agricultural production. It was established by Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist often called ‘the father of the Green Revolution’ for his work with rice and wheat. The Des Moines gathering, focused on ‘Food, Agriculture & National Security in a Globalised World’, comes at a time when the food crisis and economic slowdown have pushed as many as 100 million more people into poverty, and when climate change threatens future progress. Gates said scientists, governments and others must not repeat the mistakes of the original Green Revolution, such as overuse of fertilisers and irrigation. “The next Green Revolution has to be greener than the first,” Gates said. “It must be guided by smallholder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and the environment.” The Foundation is taking a somewhat broad approach with the current grants, which include $15 million to Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to develop policies that will improve farmer productivity, expand markets for crops, and strengthen property rights; $12 million to help farmers supply local school-feeding programmes; $10 million for a farmer radio network; $9.7 million to help rural families in India by mobilising 120,000 women and training them in land and water management; and $4.7 million to the Grameen Foundation to build a system for communities in Uganda to use mobile devices to exchange agricultural information. “In India, the project aims to mobilise 120,000 women into self-help groups to assist them in improving their farm productivity and food security, enhancing their household income,” the Foundation said. “The primary aim is to create sustainable farm-based livelihoods for rural families in endemically poor regions of India by training women farmers in land and water management and modern farming practices, establishing village extension services and building effective market linkages.” “Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest smallholder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world’s single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty,” Gates, the billionaire founder of software giant Microsoft, said. “The new grants show the range of efforts needed, including investments in better seeds, training and market access for farm goods.” Gates said progress toward alleviating global hunger is “endangered by an ideological wedge that threatens to split the movement in two,” in a debate between agricultural productivity and sustainability. “It’s a false choice, and it’s dangerous for the field,” Gates said. “The fact is, we need both productivity and sustainability -- and there is no reason we can’t have both.” The Gates Foundation is supporting research on crops that can withstand drought and flooding so poor farmers can adapt to climate change. It is also supporting a groundbreaking effort with the World Food Programme (WFP) to buy food from small farmers in the developing world for food aid. The WFP has already purchased 17,000 tonnes of food from small farmers through the programme, linking many to markets for the first time. The Gates Foundation made its initial foray into agriculture three years ago when it partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to create the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and has infused much-needed energy and $1.4 billion of funding into agricultural development in Africa and South Asia. But its approach has drawn heated criticism from those who say it is too heavily focused on technology solutions and higher yields, a path that risks repeating the mistakes of the original Green Revolution. Critics of the Foundation have often urged Gates to address the underlying roots of poverty rather than focus on technological fixes for specific problems. Some activists have expressed concern over the Foundation’s funding for development of new genetically engineered seeds. Gates’ response is that the Foundation isn’t an advocate of any particular scientific method. Source: Reuters, October 15, 2009
The Seattle Times, October 15, 2009
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