(January 25, 2008) International Development Enterprises (IDE) today announced a grant of $27 million over four years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in support of its micro-irrigation programs for Indian smallholder farmers.
Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, announced the project as part of a package of agricultural development grants [Agricultural Development initiative] at a press conference with Amos Namanga Ngongi, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Overall, the project will create $300.3 million in additional income for small farm families, landless laborers, and suppliers; a ratio of $12 generated to every $1 from the grant.
This is the second grant that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded to IDE. In November 2006 IDE received a $13.4 million grant to develop small-plot water technologies, technology markets, and connect farmers to fruit and vegetable markets in Ethiopia, Zambia, Nepal, and Myanmar.
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