Bill Gates donates to Ugandan farmers

Oct 15, 2009

UGANDA will take a chunk of the $120m (sh240b) donation by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to Africa and India.

By Conan Businge and Agencies

UGANDA will take a chunk of the $120m (sh240b) donation by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to Africa and India.

The grant, which will be made by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was announced yesterday by Gates in his keynote speech to the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Other countries that will benefit are Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

“Helping the poorest smallholder farmers grow more and get it to market is the world’s single most powerful (switch) for reducing hunger and poverty,” Gates said in a statement released ahead of his speech.

Funding will be used to support development of local markets and connect them to schools.

In Uganda, where mobile phone penetration is over 80 percent, funding from the Gates Foundation will connect villages to sources of information.

The grant has also been earmarked to set up Farmer Voice Radio, which will broadcast programmes promoting sustainable agriculture to African farmers, most of whom use radio as a source of information.

In India, the funds will help women’s groups to improve their water management skills.

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