Microsoft Corporation co-founder Bill Gates on Friday called for a two-pronged approach to focus on increasing productivity of smallholder farms and farmers and connecting them to markets to ensure reward for them for their hard work.
Responding to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s request to provide technology to transform agriculture into a profitable sector and supplement the government’s efforts for improving health and nutrition and sanitation, Mr. Gates said: “We are very excited to consider what we can do together.”
Mr. Gates, chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), who arrived by special aircraft from Lucknow, left for Bengaluru after spending nearly two and a half hours on the final day of A.P. AgriTech Summit, organised jointly by the A.P. Government, CII and Dalberg. Mr. Naidu, on the inaugural day, launched a digital soil mapping programme through technological assistance by BMGF.
Mega seed park
Mr. Gates lauded the decision of the government to set up a mega seed park at Kurnool in association with Iowa State University.
“I was excited to receive the Chief Minister’s invitation because he is as enthusiastic about the role of technology in agricultural transformation as I am. We are also both big fans of digital dashboards, though I am not sure everyone here appreciates them quite as much as we do,” he said.
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