Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has long been known for leveraging his wealth to tackle the world's biggest challenges. From infectious diseases to global poverty to clean energy, his dollars earned from founding Microsoft have gone to good.
Now, his foundation is turning its focus toward one of humanity's most urgent problems: helping farmers in vulnerable regions adapt to the accelerating impacts of the changing climate.
"Fighting climate change requires actions on two fronts: cutting emissions and protecting vulnerable people," Gates wrote in a LinkedIn post. "I will continue to invest billions in both because millions of lives depend on us getting this right."
This month, the Gates Foundation announced a $1.4 billion commitment over the next four years to support farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia — communities already being hit hard by rising temperatures, droughts, and erratic weather.
The donation will help expand access to innovative farming tools and technologies such as biofertilizers, soil health mapping, and AI-enabled weather forecasting, all designed to boost crop resilience and food security.
"These are the people who have contributed such a minimal fraction to the greenhouse gas emission that is causing climate change, but they are the most affected because those climate impacts actually hit them in terms of their ability to feed themselves and their families," Mark Suzman, head of the Gates Foundation, told Reuters in an interview.
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The new funding builds on years of investment in agricultural innovation. The International Potato Center, which previously received support from the foundation, recently developed a potato variety resistant to blight, a crop disease spreading with global warming, reported Reuters.
Another grantee, TomorrowNow, sends real-time weather updates by text message to farmers in Kenya and Rwanda, helping them plant and harvest at optimal times and avoid devastating losses, CEO Wanjeri Mbugua told Reuters.
Taking action against food inequity, poverty, and the changing climate goes hand in hand. The world's poorest provide the majority of the food for the world's richest, yet the richest members of our society are the ones who pose the greatest threat to Earth's livability.
Gates explained why empowering these farmers is crucial: "We're supporting their ingenuity with the tools and resources to help them thrive — because investing in their resilience is one of the smartest, most impactful things we can do for people and the planet."
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