Some people come to the World Economic Forum expecting caviar. Bill Gates said he would bring cassava.
“I don't know what Swiss customs will say about it,” said Mr. Gates, chairman of Microsoft and co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “I'll put it in a nice plastic bag or something.”
Assuming he makes it past the border guards, Mr. Gates is bringing the tubers — some of them healthy, others rotten — to Davos to underline a pitch for his foundation's efforts to eradicate hunger in places where food is scarce and crops are often blighted.
Since 2009, Mr. Gates has been publishing an annual letter that details his foundation's work and sets priorities for the coming year. This time, the letter, which was set to be published on Tuesday in Seattle, highlights the need for innovation in agriculture to improve nutrition in poor countries.
The foundation, the world's largest philanthropic organisation, donates about $300 million a year to agriculture projects, a little more than one-tenth of its overall annual commitments. About half of the organisation's money goes to health care, including efforts to fight diseases like AIDS, polio and malaria, and the rest is dedicated to education and other initiatives.
Last year, Mr. Gates' letter focused on the foundation's efforts to develop and disseminate vaccines. A milestone in the battle against deadly diseases was reached this month when the Gates Foundation and other groups announced that last year, for the first time, India had not recorded a single case of polio.
Mr. Gates said he had decided to emphasise agriculture this year because he felt it was not getting the necessary attention. At the same time, he added, the need for food is easily understood by the public because it is “so primary.”
“We get a strong response on health issues,” he said by telephone. “But when we show a farmer getting better sweet potatoes that are more nutritious, the response is even stronger.”
The letter describes the plight of a farmer in Tanzania whose staple cassava crop has been infected by two diseases that have attacked the leaves of the trees as well as the roots, which are the edible crop. Cassava can be used to make a variety of foods, including tapioca.
“The billion people who wake up every day trying to figure out if they have enough food to eat won't be at Davos,” said Mr. Gates.
He added that the foundation's goal was to cut this number, calculated by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, in half by the end of the decade. Mr. Gates is a longtime visitor to the forum, where the foundation and Microsoft typically have a strong presence. -- New York News Service
It is a pity that INDIAN RICH are only self centered,and least bothered about humanity around.We find in richest GULF countries,the business families build hospital blocks fully equiped with specialities and hand over to the Governments,even though Govt.can afford without their help..ANBD WE TALK SO GREAT ABOUT INDIAN CULTURE AND CHARITY.....SHAMEFULL
I hope the first responder above is aware about the first humanitarian and noble maharaja of Travanncore who was instrumental in bringing Cassava/tapioca to the culinary table of the Keralites. How about celebrating collective efforts like "operation white flood" and the information Technology industry.We need a new heart to see the reality closer to our home.
In a world of relative evils, we can take only what we get. Of course. there will always be a catch. But at least, Gates's effort has been sustained over the years. There is always a reason to fault a person. His control over Microsoft is nothing compared to what it was. He has definitely stepped out of the limelight there. It was instituted sometime in 1994 and as far as I have read, is the most transparent charitable organization, if not one of the most. It has programs in every conceivable poor country and focuses a lot on kids and aids. It has not been without its controversies - as reported in the LA times - somewhere around 2007 accusing it of attracting better Doctor's and maybe other resources to its clinics etc. Yes, there is always a drawback. But it could be worse.
Mr. Gates does great PR in mainstream media. In India, he is almost idolised because of the Microsoft success, and a great disinterest in the (free) alternatives. But there are voluminous controversies in independent media w.r.t almost every association of his. So, despite his extremely valid presentation (at the closed door conclave of the 1%) of a problem, one tends to wonder where the catch is. Maybe The Hindu should elucidate.
How ironic that Bill Gates is involved in successful eradication of Polio in India, but not a SINGLE Indian businessman is mentioned! Almost no Indian is publicly known to have a Foundation even remotely similar to that of Gates. India harbours the most terrible Human Development Indices, affecting the highest numbers of any country, but Indian rich never figure among those doing something about it. It can hardly require any special talent to know that if a dozen of the mega rich here were to come together and jointly set up a Foundation, what a huge impact it would have in their own country. The Indian media, while elevating to divinity the likes of Bachchan and Tendulkar (to name just two), wonders not why such types dont use their personal wealth and prestige to seriously tackle the misery and injustice afflicting the majority of their compatriots, and from which comes their fan base. But then, were all that to happen, this would not be India, but another country and another people.
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