Food Security through Agricultural Development: The Role of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people—the 1 billion who live on $1 a day or less—rely on agriculture to feed themselves and their families. Many small farmers in the developing world cannot grow enough food to sell or even eat. Almost no country has managed a rapid rise from poverty without increasing agricultural productivity. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working to break these cycles of hunger and poverty by providing small farmers with the tools and opportunities to boost their productivity, increase their incomes, and build better lives for themselves and their families. Working with a wide range of partners, we seek to enhance the complete agricultural value chain—from planting the highest quality seeds and improving farm management practices to bringing crops to market—while protecting farmers’ natural environments. Our comprehensive approach to supporting a full range of farmers’ needs concentrates on four focus areas; Science & Technology, Farmer Productivity, Market Access and Policy & Statistics.  We believe that solutions are within reach and that progress is possible on a large scale, even in very poor countries.