The Impatient Optimists

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Topics / Agricultural Development

Approximately 1 billion people live in chronic hunger and more than 1 billion live in extreme poverty. Many are small farmers in the developing world. Their success or failure determines whether they have enough to eat, are able to send their children to school, and can earn any money to save.

Learn more below and visit the program page for more details about our work in this area.

President Obama and Bill Gates on Fighting Hunger and Poverty

May 18, 2012 / Sam Dryden

The challenges smallholder farmers in the developing world face are considerable yet not insurmountable.

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How Women Will Help Africa Become More Food Secure

May 17, 2012 / Jennifer James

Discrimination, gender rights, and land ownership must be fostered in order for women farmers to thrive and produce food for the African continent.

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Investing in Food for Africa – And the Rest of Us

May 17, 2012 / Laurie Goering

What the right kind of long-term investment in African agriculture looks like remains a matter of some debate.

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Back to our Roots - Seeds, Sustainabilily and Saving Lives

May 17, 2012 / Melissa Milburn

Roy Steiner, deputy director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's agricultural development program, talks with Ross Reynolds on NPR KUOW's The Conversation about the work of the foundation.

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Early Rains in Ethiopia

May 17, 2012 / James Whittington

Ethiopia launched a highly ambitious plan in 2010 to double the size of the economy over five years, and raising productivity in agriculture is key.

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  • "Our desire to bring every good thing to our children is a force for good throughout the world. It’s what propels societies forward." —Melinda Gates

  • "The world faces a clear choice. If we invest relatively small amounts, many more poor farmers will be able to feed their families." —Bill Gates, 2012 Annual Letter

  • "When it come to global health, Bill and I are optimists—but we're impatient optimists. Tremendous progress is being made. But there is still so much we're impatient to see done." —Melinda French Gates

  • The Global Fund has helped to deliver more than 190 million bed nets to protect families from malaria.

  • In Senegal, 80% of households now have a bed net, helping the number of malaria cases there drop 50% in a single year.

©2012 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation