GATES FOUNDATION AWARDS SECOND GRANT TO IDE
New grant to have significant impact on rural poverty in India
Bill Gates has announced a $27 million grant to IDE to support micro-irrigation programs for Indian smallholder farmers. The project was announced as part of a package of agricultural development grants at a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Amitabha Sadangi, IDE India director (left) and IDE India staff demonstrate drip irrigation to Melissa Ho (right) of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The project aims to directly affect up to 250,000 smallholder farm families in 14 diverse states of India, increasing farmers’ income by a minimum of $400 per year, and boosting the agricultural economy by $300 million at the grassroots level. To accomplish this goal, IDE will employ its proven, creative approach to manufacture, market, and distribute affordable, scalable micro-irrigation systems though a newly-created private sector supply chain; train farmers to use micro-irrigation; and link them to high-value crop markets, using little more than their own existing resources.
“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,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “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 saved. They can have a dramatic impact on poverty reduction as families generate additional income and improve their lives.”
This grant comes just one year after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded IDE a $13.4 million grant to develop and promote its innovative methods for the rural poor in Africa and Asia.
IDE Canada Chair Al Doerksen, who played a key role in developing the India project said, "This grant provides the basis for enabling significant 'trickle down' access by poor farmers to the strong gains the Indian economy has been enjoying in recent years."