Gates donates €200m to help small farmers

MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates is to give about £150 million (€202m) towards green technology and farming methods hoping to lift millions of Africans and South Asians out of hunger and poverty.

Mr Gates, who is stepping down as the company’s chairman later this year, said the funds would go to organisations studying ways to use affordable techniques to improve yields that will enable small farmers in Africa to feed themselves and earn cash.

“Why do we think agriculture is so important?” Mr Gates said. “Of the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day, three-quarters are small farmers. And often it is actually the woman who is doing her best to both create crops for eating and earn some cash to buy other things.”