Gates Commits $120 Million to Help Small Farmers

Bill Gates seems to be everywhere with his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, showering money all over the world to help with a vast range of different challenges.

He’s now turning his considerable helping power to assist the world’s poorest farmers. He made his first major speech on agricultural development at the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, where he explained the foundation’s plan of making "investments in better seeds, training, market access, and policies that support small farmers," according to a foundation press release.

He insisted that the trick will be to empower small farming families to help themselves — with the right resources and support they will be able to boost their crop yields and pull themselves out of poverty. Gates urged international, philanthropic, scientific, and agricultural and environmental communities to team up on this ambitious plan.

Gates is starting the effort off on a good foot with nine grants totaling $120 million from the Gates Foundation. "Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest small-holder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world's single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty," Gates said.

The announcement could not have been more appropriate for the forum. The World Food Prize, which "emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people," this year went to Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, an Ethiopian sorghum researcher who has developed sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the Striga weed, which have increased food security for hundreds of millions of people in Africa.

Photo courtesy of Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M, via Flickr