Today, as Reuters reports in the Washington Post, Bill Gates and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are set to launch the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program that aims to tackle hunger problems in third world countries by boosting food production in the same countries that have problems feeding their citizens.Gates and Geithner wrote in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that their program will help farmers produce more food, get their food to the markets, and earn a better income for their efforts. By doing this, they hope to reduce poverty and hunger while also producing more food.
The two wrote in the Journal: "As the world's population increases in the coming years and as changes in the climate create water shortages that destroy crops, the number of people without adequate access to food is likely to increase. As that happens, small farmers and people living in poverty will need the most help."
According to the Reuters article, the United State first proposed creating such a fund at a meeting of the Group of Eight nation's in Italy back in 2008. At the time the US was encouraging foreign nations to pool resources to invest in agriculture in the most impoverished nations. Gates and Geithner's efforts do involve other nations, as Canada, Spain, and South Korea said they would contribute money. The financial commitments to the fund now totals nearly $900 million.
The fund is set up to invest in infrastructure projects that will help farmers have better access to markets. Additionally, it will provide farmers access to better seed and farm technology. Further the fund will work to increase sustainable water-use.
Reuters reports that the fund will be overseen by the World Bank. The World Bank "will provide financing to poor countries with high levels of food insecurity and have developed sound agricultural plans to boost crop production."
Currently, despite the fact that enough food is produced annually, worldwide, to feed the world population, 1 billion people still go hungry. Perhaps this new initiative will bring this number down.
To read Gates and Geithner's opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, click here.
To read the Reuter's story in the Washington Post, click here.
Posted: 04/22/10
