Bill Gates, USAID Administrator Shah call for more investment in poor farmers to ensure global food security

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Foundation, and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Tuesday called for developed countries to invest in farmers in the developing world to help end global hunger, Agence France-Presse reports. Gates and Shah spoke at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington, D.C. (Zeitvogel, 5/24).

"Gates promoted the Global Agricultural and Food Security Program, an initiative his foundation is funding ... to essentially turn small African farms into mini-businesses," and talked about stimulating innovation to develop better agriculture methods, Politico reports. "If you could get African production even at two-thirds of European or U.S. production," Gates told reporters ahead of his speech, "You'd be talking about tripling their productivity" (Zapler, 5/25).

Shah outlined the Obama administration's commitment to food security in his speech, AFP writes. The "administration has pledged $1.15 billion dollars to promote global food security in the 2011 fiscal year, said Shah. Most of the money - $900 million - will be invested in agriculture in 12 African, four Asian and four Latin American countries in USAID's 'Feed the Future' program, and another $100 million has been committed to a multilateral trust fund set up with the World Bank to promote food security." Shah also outlined government partnerships with "U.S. companies including Wal-Mart, Pepsi and General Mills to drive agricultural research in developing countries" (5/24).


http://www.kaiserhealthnews.orgThis article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Ultra-processed food linked to weight gain and lower well-being in adolescents