Agribusiness: bootstrap your way to success.

Agribusiness: bootstrap your way to success.When it comes to business success, Bill Gates is in a league of his own. A Harvard dropout, he (and his partner Paul Allen) built the mega-corporation Microsoft that helped take personal, business, and industrial computing to the masses.

Cassava : Adding Value For Africa.

 Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA). Cassava or manioc (Manihot esculenta) is a perennial woody shrub with an edible root, which grows in tropical and subtropical areas of the world and has much ability to withstand difficult growing conditions. Cassava is one of the most drought-tolerant crops. 

It is a starchy root tuber, native to South America and serves as a major source of calories and carbohydrates for people in developing countries. 

Analysts believe that the most commonly consumed part of cassava is the root, which can be eaten whole, grated or ground into flour to make bread and crackers.  They note that cassava root is the raw material for tapioca and ‘garri’ a staple food in Nigeria.

 Garri can replace flour in the use of bread and other confectioneries.  Echbee Foods has found innovative ways to use garri to provide wholesome nutritious meals that are affordable.

          

 A Food Biochemist and Chief Executive of the So Tastee Cakes and Pastries, Mr Emmanuel Osiname, believes that individuals with food allergies can benefit from using cassava root in cooking and baking because it is gluten-free. He, however, advises that the cassava root must be dried, cooked and processed before eaten. 

According to the Cassava: Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA), an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world with current annual output of about 54 million metric tonnes. C:AVA made the observation in its training manual on the use of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) in confectioneries. It is, however, worried that Nigeria does not contribute meaningfully in terms of value added in global trade.

AfDB targets 513 million tonnes of food production by 2025.

AfDB targets 513 million tonnes of food production by 2025. The African Development Bank (AfDB)’s new initiative Technologies for African Agriculture initiative will produce 513 million tonnes of additional food across Africa. It will also lift nearly 250 million Africans out of poverty by 2025. A statement from the bank said 25 African countries have written letters, confirming their interest and readiness to participate in TAAT, and help transform their agriculture. TAAT, according to the bank, will support its Feed Africa Strategy for the continent to eliminate the current massive importation of food and transform its economies by targeting agriculture as a major source of economic diversification and wealth, as well as a powerful engine for job creation. The commodities value chains to benefit from this initiative are rice, cassava, pearl millet, sorghum, groundnut, cowpea, livestock, maize, soya bean, yam, cocoa, coffee, cashew, palm oil, horticulture, beans, wheat and fish. AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, at a TAAT side event in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, said: “TAAT was born out of this major consultation and brings together global players in agriculture, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, World Food Programme, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Rockefeller Foundation and national and regional agricultural research systems.

Experts partner Kano farmers to boost cowpea production.

Experts partner Kano farmers to boost cowpea production. Tropical Legumes III (TLIII) project, led by ICRISAT, a major international initiative supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and implemented by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with other research institutes has revealed that, the project has partnered farmers in Kano state through Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) towards achieving a boost in cowpea production in the state. Addressing farmers during farmer’s green field day held at Dawakin Tofa local government area of the state, TLII project coordinator Dr. Chris Ojiewo stated that, the project is aimed at ensuring an increase in legume productivity, nutrition for smallholder farmers and increased in their income. He added that, the project has made several efforts in churning out to farmers improved variety seeds that will suits the climate in the tropical areas.

'School-in-a-box' tech is helping teach children in Asia and Africa.

'School-in-a-box' tech is helping teach children in Asia and Africa. This Nairobi-based startup provides pre-school and primary-level education to 100,000 children in 400 schools and nurseries in developing markets across Africa and Asia. The for-profit was launched by former financial analyst Shannon May and her husband Jay Kimmelman in 2009, and has attracted funding from investors including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and the Omidyar Network. more

New veterinary diagnostic networks to aid poultry, livestock production in Sub-Sahara.

New veterinary diagnostic networks to aid poultry, livestock production in Sub-Sahara. With the help of a US$14.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next 3 years, Zoetis announced plans to develop veterinary and outreach services to aid the growth of poultry and livestock production in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. The animal health company said the grant would enable the development of veterinary laboratory networks, increase the availability of local veterinary medicines and services, implement sustainable diagnostics programs and strengthen local veterinary expertise. “Access to medicines and technology will help farmers raise healthier animals and secure more sustainable revenue, which is critical to the economic development of the region and well-being of its population,” said Juan Ramón Alaix, chief executive officer for Zoetis. As one of the most rapidly developing regions in the world, Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to some of the largest food-animal populations in the world – and the highest density of impoverished farmers.1 According to Zoetis, food animals are essential assets to rural communities and maintaining their health is critical to achieving food security in areas of exceptionally high animal and human disease incidence. This program, funded by the foundation, will be called the African Livestock Productivity and Health Advancement (ALPHA) initiative. Zoetis said it would collaborate with governmental authorities, local veterinary associations, national and international NGOs, farmer associations and the private sector to “maximize its ability to positively impact the region.” Over the course of 3 years, the company said it would “use the progress made and key learnings to work toward a longer-term sustainable business model and animal health infrastructure” for food-animal production in the region. source

Gates, Dangote float new funding window for healthcare delivery in Kano, Yobe.

As part of its global humanitarian activities, Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with Dangote Foundation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the governments Kano and Yobe states. The aim is to boost primary health care delivery in the two states. The signing of the agreement which was witnessed by a large collection of major stakeholders various countries, was a follow up to earlier agreement entered into by the two Foundations and governments of the two states. Under the new agreement, the management of the Foundations will be partnering governments of each of the two states to float a funding basket to be used in financing Primary HealthCare Delivery in rural areas of the two states. more

US foundation works to end African poverty with chickens.

The World Poultry Foundation (WPF) take a $21.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and, in four years, wants to improve incomes and nutrition for millions of smallholder chicken farmers in rural Africa. The team leading the World Poultry Foundation is working in rural Nigeria and Tanzania to empower smallholder farmers – especially women – to earn higher incomes and improve the nutrition of their families through poultry-growing enterprises. The foundation says the grant allows them to implement a strategy that gives rural farmers access to improved genetics, provides technical assistance and training, and allows access to new markets, with a goal of impacting 2.5 million households across Tanzania and Nigeria at the end of the four-year initiative. The goals are in alignment with the World Poultry Foundation’s mission, which has shifted from helping a trading partner out of self-interest (keeping the Russian market open to U.S. poultry) to helping people in underdeveloped nations where no gain is expected for the U.S. poultry industry. continue

Vegan ‘bleeding’ burger on Michelin-starred menu

Vegan ‘bleeding’ burger on Michelin-starred menu: Bill Gates-backed Silicon Valley start-up Impossible Foods will launch its ‘bleeding’ meat-free burger at two New York restaurants this week.

Birth Control Is Women’s Way Out of Poverty.

According to Melinda Gates, Birth Control Is Women’s Way Out of Poverty.Melinda Gates has made providing poor women in developing countries access to contraception a mission. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she leads with her husband, has donated more than $1 billion for family planning efforts and will spend about $180 million more this year. Since 2012, she has helped lead an international campaign to get birth control to 120 million more women by 2020. Four years later, a report explains why achieving that goal is proving tougher than expected. This is a condensed and edited version of our conversation about family planning. If you allow a woman — if you counsel her so it’s truly voluntary — to have a contraceptive tool and she can space those births, it unlocks the cycle of poverty for her. In the early days, I’d be out traveling for the foundation, I’d be there to talk to women about vaccines, I’m going be frank, for their children, and what they would say to me is: ‘O.K., I have questions for you. What about that contraceptive, how come I can’t get it anymore?’ To me, it’s one of the greatest injustices. continue

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation fund farming in Borno state.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Donates $1m To Borno State,as a post conflict intervention that is meant to support victims who are returning to their communities. The governor launched at the support with the distribution of 25 kilogram bag of rice and 10 kilogram bag of beans to each of 1,100 households at Mainok village in Kaga local government area, 45 kilometers away from Maiduguri. The Governor announced that officials of the State Government working with the Gates Foundation used the $1m to procure the food items and commenced funding of 100 hectares of farm where beans is being cultivated. He explained that 200 farm-families will be allocated tilled and fertile land measuring half hectare each along with improved seeds, fertilizer, chemicals and technical supervision so that they can start growing food crops. The Governor also announced the release of two trucks of maize grid to add to the food procured with Gates donation. The intervention from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is being used for food supplies and to fund farming activities for households. As a preliminary stage, beans is being cultivated in one hundred hectares of land. Half hectare is being allocated to a farm-family with a target of reaching 200 households. Each household may have from 2 to 10 family members. Already, farms have been established in Konduga and Damboa. Each household is to be allocated not only tilled and fertile land but also improved variety of seeds, fertilizer, chemicals and most importantly, technical field supervision by extension workers. The intervention aims at reaching 40,000 victims of the insurgency through households on both food aide and farming activity. We are particularly interested in ensuring that citizens begin to produce food crops in safe locations because direct food aide in post conflict situations is never sustainable over a long period of time.

BILL GATES , CHICKENS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH.

Dr. Batamaka Somé, an anthropologist from Burkina Faso who has worked with Gates foundation, has spent much of his career studying the economic impact of raising chickens in his home country. He explains the importance of chicken to the economy of Burkina Faso in the video. Bill Gates asks" If you were living on $2 a day, what would you do to improve your life? That’s a real question for the nearly 1 billion people living in extreme poverty today. There’s no single right answer, of course, and poverty looks different in different places. But through my work with the foundation, I’ve met many people in poor countries who raise chickens, and I have learned a lot about the ins and outs of owning these birds. (As a city boy from Seattle, I had a lot to learn!) It’s pretty clear to me that just about anyone who’s living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens. In fact, if I were in their shoes, that’s what I would do—I would raise chickens. Here’s why: 1) They are easy and inexpensive to take care of. Many breeds can eat whatever they find on the ground (although it’s better if you can feed them, because they’ll grow faster). Hens need some kind of shelter where they can nest, and as your flock grows, you might want some wood and wire to make a coop. Finally, chickens need a few vaccines. The one that prevents the deadly Newcastle disease costs less than 20 cents. 2) They’re a good investment. Suppose a new farmer starts with five hens. One of her neighbors owns a rooster to fertilize the hens’ eggs. After three months, she can have a flock of 40 chicks. Eventually, with a sale price of $5 per chicken—which is typical in West Africa—she can earn more than $1,000 a year, versus the extreme-poverty line of about $700 a year. 3)They help keep children healthy. Malnutrition kills more than 3.1 million children a year. Although eating more eggs—which are rich in protein and other nutrients—can help fight malnutrition, many farmers with small flocks find that it’s more economical to let the eggs hatch, sell the chicks, and use the money to buy nutritious food. But if a farmer’s flock is big enough to give her extra eggs, or if she ends up with a few broken ones, she may decide to cook them for her family. 4)They empower women. Because chickens are small and typically stay close to home, many cultures regard them as a woman’s animal, in contrast to larger livestock like goats or cows. Women who sell chickens are likely to reinvest the profits in their families. The Gates foundation is betting on chicken; alongside partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa, we are working to create sustainable market systems for poultry. It’s especially important for these systems to make sure farmers can buy birds that have been properly vaccinated and are well suited to the local growing conditions. Our goal: to eventually help 30 percent of the rural families in sub-Saharan Africa raise improved breeds of vaccinated chickens, up from just 5 percent now. Bill Gates said "When I was growing up, chickens weren’t something you studied, they were something you made silly jokes about". It has been eye-opening for me to learn what a difference they can make in the fight against poverty. It sounds funny, but I mean it when I say that I am excited about chickens.

Dogs may be able to smell malaria in humans and help with quicker detection.

Scientists hope using dogs could revolutionise how malaria is detected, enabling doctors to identify it quickly and without invasive tests Dogs may be able to sniff out malaria through their acute sense of smell, thereby saving thousands of lives through quick and non-invasive detection, scientists have claimed. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a grant to commission research into the possibility to scientists at Durham University, Medical Detection Dogs and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, along with counterparts in Gambia. It is hoped the animals may be able to detect odors associated with the condition and which are too subtle to be identified by human smell. Previous research has suggested dogs can be highly accurate in detection cancer in humans. Steve Lindsay, expert in the development of malaria-control measures in the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University and principle investigator in the project, said: “Recent research has demonstrated that patients infected with the malaria parasite produce specific odors in their breath that disappear after treatment of the parasite. We also know that malaria mosquitoes prefer to feed on malaria patients, which they almost certainly identify by their odor. “If dogs can be used to identify malaria-infected individuals, they could be used at ports of entry for screening travelers entering areas that are malaria free, but susceptible to re-invasion. Using dogs for detection of parasites has the advantage that it is non-invasive, portable, does not require a laboratory, is fully functional in field settings and can be used to test a high quantity of samples. By using the dogs, we can quickly find and treat those with malaria and thereby hugely accelerating the speed at which we can wipe out this terrible disease altogether.” Dr Claire Guest, CEO of Medical Detection Dogs which trains animals for medical purposes, said: “Dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell. They can detect parts per trillion; that is equivalent to one spoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. In training trials, they have proven themselves to be 93 per cent reliable at detecting cancer. I feel confident they will learn to detect the odor of malaria.” In August of last year, the use of medical detection dogs for sniffing out cancer was approved for use in an NHS trial following evidence the animals are highly reliable at detecting the disease in humans. In 2015, there were an estimated 214 million malaria cases globally and an estimated 438,000 deaths caused by the disease. culled from the independent.co.uk

HOW TO GENERATE DATA FOR FOOD SECURITY USING APPS, PHOTOS AND FOOD PRICES.

A San Francisco-based startup has sent out data collectors armed with just an Android phone, to harvest real-time economic data as and where it happens. From the price of onions in Indian cities to delayed infrastructure projects in rural China,


Premise data is, for the first time, giving governments, investors and NGOs an accurate glimpse of what is happening on the ground.

 In the Butantã branch of Extra, the Brazilian supermarket chain, in the western suburbs of São Paulo, Sandra Morais, 37, is taking photos of bags of rice.

She's not some retail Instagrammer or an obsessive foodie, but one of 25,000 data collectors that a San Francisco-based startup called premise.

 The aim is to ascertain which products are available , at what price and quantities available and location available to facilitate proper planning .

 Premise was founded in 2012 by an American former investment analyst, David Soloff, now 46, who realized that a large amount of developing-world economic data, on which big institutions were basing their risk and funding decisions, was significantly out of date by the time it reached their desks.

NANOTECHNOLOGY TO TREAT HUMAN WASTE AND REMOVE STENCH.

A toilet that does not need water, a sewage system or external power but instead uses nanotechnology to treat human waste, produce clean water and keep smells at bay is being developed by a British university.The innovative toilet uses a rotating mechanism to move waste into a holding chamber containing nano elements. The mechanism also blocks odors and keeps waste out of sight. “Once the waste is in the holding chamber we use membranes that take water out as vapor, which can then be condensed and available for people to use in their homes,” Alison Parker, lead researcher on the project, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The pathogens remain in the waste at the bottom of the holding chamber, so the water is basically pure and clean.”Cranfield University is developing the toilet as part of the global “Reinvent the toilet Challenge” launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Nanotechnology is the science of creating and working with materials about one nanometer wide, or one-billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide. According to the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) 2.4 billion people, mostly in rural areas, live without adequate toilets.Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio, the WHO says. A replaceable bag containing solid waste coated with a biodegradable nano-polymer which blocks odor will be collected periodically by a local operator, it says. story courtesy;News daily. http://newsdaily.com/2016/01/waterless-toilet-uses-nanotechnology-to-treat-waste-banish-smells/

TICK VACCINE FOR AFRICAN CATTLE .

Two Queensland scientists have been recruited as part of a global project to help develop a tick vaccine for the African cattle industry.The tick may be an enemy of the Australian beef industry, but the situation is even more dire in Africa.The research is part of a global project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to help the overseas cattle producers combat tick infestation. Researcher Alicja Lew-Tabor said ticks were having a significant impact on domestic beef production in Africa.Unlike Australian producers, African producers generally only supply their domestic market and Dr Lew-Tabor said ticks caused significant problems in meat and milk supply. "Most of the countries in Africa have cattle of sorts, whether it is for milk or beef production, and most of them would be in regions that are affected by cattle tick and the diseases that they carry," Dr Lew-Tabor said."Ticks are resistant to a lot of the drugs that they use to put on the cattle; they become resistant to them in time."That chemical resistance was the very reason why Dr Lew-Tabor and fellow researcher Manuel Rodriguez-Valle were selected to join the worldwide project. For five years, they have worked on the development of many vaccine strains which could have potential in Africa.They started with 300 possibilities and have selected 25 vaccines which could be successful in controlling the tick infestation.Dr Rodriguez-Valle said the work was tedious, but the results looked good."We have two candidates that look very interesting [and] we will have results very quickly, at the end of February; we are very confident in them," he said.To control the results, the cattle are kept isolated in pens.The goal is to try to reduce the number of ticks per animal by 70 per cent. We infect the animals with around 5,000 tick larvae and wait until the ticks drop off each animal, then we collect the tick, weigh it and analyse the reduction in the number of ticks," Dr Rodriguez-Valle said.The vaccines inject antigens into the cattle, creating antibodies to attack the ticks."We got 80 per cent protection in a trial that we did in Brazil but what they [Gates Foundation] has wanted us to do is pull that mixture apart and work out what the most active components are," Dr Lew-Tabor said.The vaccine is expected to be ready to use within five years, and Dr Lew-Tabor said there could be benefits for Australian beef producers too."They will be able to bring the more susceptible breeds into regions where they don't have those breeds," she said. source; ABC NEWS.

BILL GATES AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

Mr. Gates told Mr. Hollande that energy innovation needed to be a top agenda item at the climate change conference now taking place in this airport suburb outside Paris. For years, Mr. Gates had prodded governments to increase spending on research and development of clean technologies. He had sunk $1 billion of his own fortune into start-ups working on new kinds of batteries and nuclear reactors. The June tête-à-tête helped accelerate a sequence of events that led to one of the biggest public-private partnerships to tackle climate change, unveiled at the conference. Mr. Gates, who made billions from Microsoft before remaking himself as a philanthropist, was a linchpin of the effort, acting as an envoy between the worlds of business and policy. His role in sealing the deal offers a peek into how the inner circles of governments and industry intersect. It also underscores how a handful of the world’s wealthiest people can stand with heads of state to spotlight a social, economic and policy issue on the global stage. For Mr. Gates, the world’s richest person and co-chairman of the biggest private foundation, it is another sign of how his vast foreign aid operation and status as a technology icon have turned him into a uniquely influential global diplomat. The seeds for a partnership were planted in January when President Obama visited Mr. Modi in New Delhi. Mr. Obama’s goal was to forge a close relationship with Mr. Modi, in hopes of finding common ground on climate change. During those conversations, Mr. Modi pointed out his challenge: He needed new electricity to help raise India out of poverty, but coal was the cheapest power source. He said India would use clean energy if there were tech breakthroughs that provided that energy inexpensively. Mr. Modi’s message prompted Mr. Obama to consider how to achieve more clean-energy innovation. One idea was a multigovernment coalition to increase spending on clean technology. Read more here;http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/business/energy-environment/bill-gates-takes-on-climate-change-with-nudges-and-a-powerful-rolodex.html?_r=0