The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an American NGO, has donated $200 million as grant to help farmers in Africa to improve their productivity and income.

Established in 2006 by a one-time richest person in the world, Mr Bill Gates, whose wealth was estimated at 62 billion dollars as at April 16, 2008, the Foundation is involved in various charitable activities.

One of such activities is the commitment to new techniques to help farmers in the developing countries to grow more food and earn more money.

Gates announced the grant recently in his address at the 35th Governing Council meeting of IFAD in Rome.

A statement from IFAD and made available to newsmen  in Abuja on Thursday, quoted Gates as saying that the money was also for agricultural projects that were “already producing great results for farmers” in the continent.

He challenged the UN bodies responsible for fighting hunger and poverty “to unite around a common global target for sustainable productivity and growth in agriculture.”

“The international agricultural community needs to be more innovative, coordinated, and focused to help poor farmers grow more food and commit their energy to concrete, measurable target for increasing agricultural productivity.

“If we can do that, we can dramatically reduce suffering and build self-sufficiency.’’

In a paper, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akin Adesina said the number of people going hungry had reached one billion.

Adesina, whose paper was titled “The challenges ahead and how to create a supportive environment to unleash the potential of smallholder farmers”, said the global food prices, which came down in July last year, had gone up again.

He, however, expressed optimism that with sustainable increase in agricultural productivity, about 400 million people would be lifted out of poverty globally.

Adesina called the stake holders in agriculture to focus attention on raising agricultural productivity, create markets and make agriculture a business venture.