African farmers will benefit from the nearly $8 million given by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Michigan State University to help fund sustainable agriculture projects.

Among the many charitable activities of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, reforming international agriculture has been at the top of their priorities list. Transformation of global health initiatives (through the combating of major illnesses) and the development of sustainable agricultural production techniques at a local level offers many Third World residents their best chance for conquering poverty.

The Gates Foundation support of the MSU program will help fund the development of independent African agricultural groups and will help fund research dealing with improving farm yields and capacities.

“It’s been increasingly well known that African policymakers are I think more likely to get good policy advice, or wish to get good policy advice, from local African institutes. So we’ve been working to develop this agricultural policy institute here and I am pleased to report that as of February 9 of this year, that was the official launch of the Indaba Agricultural policy research institute, an independent, Zambian managed institute much like the Brookings Institute in the United States,” said Tom Jayne, international development professor at MSU.

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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer