The Bill and Melinda Gates co-chairperson Bill Gates said investing in seed innovation is one of the best ways to ensure food security for a world increasingly affected by climate change.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Gates said the investment in seed innovation, which he pegged at around $1 billion, needs to be doubled for it to have any impact.
"In a rich world, productivity is far greater per acre than in developing countries. So, as we give them seeds that are adapted to their conditions and find a way to give them good advice — probably using mobile phones for a lot of that — help them with credit to buy fertiliser, if we can double that productivity, then the calories are in good shape," Gates said.
He said it was time we had a Green Revolution of the like seen in the 1970s.
"The amount of money going into seed innovation is less than a billion (dollars), you know, (and) our goal for the world is that if we got that up to $2 billion, that would be the biggest thing to help avoid climate disasters," Gates said.
Gates says his foundation will be one of the biggest funders in seed innovation.
"We're also talking about, you know, as we looked at climate, how do you minimise the damage and climate adaptation — which means getting ready for the extra heat — doesn't get enough attention. And we're not as good at measuring which interventions are the most impactful for climate adaptation, but it's very urgent that we get going on that."
One of the more recent criticisms leveled at Gates was the frenetic pace at which he was buying out farmland in the US — he is the biggest landowner in the country. Gates says it's all keeping in mind his philanthropic efforts.
"I own, through an investment office that invests in quite a few things, about 1/4000 of the land in the US, so it's a very distributed thing. There's not any one person who owns much of that land. You know, they've decided it's good investment. The money that I haven't spent through the foundation, we invest it, try to get returns so we can have as much to send to poor countries as possible,' Gates explained.
First Published: Sept 22, 2022 7:53 AM IST
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