Gates gives $306m for African farming

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donatee $306 million (N3.5billion) to boost small farmers yields and incomes m Africa and other developing world, the foundation have said.

The foundation said in a statement, released at annual World Economic Forum meeting that support for agriculture the developing world had been neglected.

Such support, the statement said was vital for the development of rural areas, where most of the world's poorest people live.

"If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers most of whom are women," Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp, said in the statement.

'These investments -from improving the quality of seeds, to developing healthier soil, to creating new markets - will pay off not only in children fed and lives save," Gates said.