Gates’ funding model comes under scrutiny

African scientists received only 20 per cent of the US$3 billion spent by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve agricultural research in poor countries in the last decade, an analysis of the foundation’s investments has shown.

Grain, a Spain-based non-governmental organisation, published the analysis, ‘How does the world spend its money to feed the world?’, on 4 November. It assessed how the foundation spent its funding in three categories —international research organisations, NGOs and universities—from 2003 to 2013. The NGO also analysed how Gates’ funding was distributed across countries.

Of the 20 percent, three quarters went to the Kenya-based AGRA and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, which were not categorised as African organisations in the analysis.