africa | February 1, 2017

Gates Foundation makes a bet on chickens and farmers in Africa

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“It’s pretty clear to me that just about anyone who’s living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens,” Bill Gates wrote on his blog last summer. “In fact, if I were in their shoes, that’s what I would do — I would raise chickens.”

The notion of the billionaire musing on living on less than $2 a day drew some criticism, but his foundation is undeterred.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has granted $21.4 million to the World Poultry Foundation to provide technical assistance and better market access to chicken farmers — particularly women — in Nigeria and Tanzania.

The four-year program aims to reach 2.5 million households.