Meeting with Bill Gates to discuss livestock research innovation

January 28th, 2018

“In short, if you care about the poor, you should care about agriculture. And if you care about agriculture, you should care about livestock” said Bill Gates during his speech at the opening of the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security at the University of Edinburgh on 26 January 2018.

“Great science is helping to turn livestock into a pathway out of poverty for hundreds of millions of people,” said Bill Gates.

Livestock are a source of nutrition and income for millions of smallholder farmers living in Africa and Asia. Improving the productivity of the animals will benefit vulnerable farming families – allowing them to rise out of poverty.

In addition to attending the opening of the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security, Bill Gates met with researchers, including CSIRO Chief Research Scientist Mario Herrero, and development partners at the University of Edinburgh to further the conversation on innovation and agricultural research.

As part of this discussion, Mario Herrero showcased the Global Food and Nutrition Security group’s LiveGAPS work that identifies ways to sustainably maximise livestock yields in developing countries for poverty alleviation and global food security.

“For over a billion people living in the world’s poorest countries, agriculture and livestock are a lifeline out of poverty,” said Gates.

Also taking part in the discussion were experts from Supporting Evidence Based Interventions (SEBI), a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is spearheading a global effort to collate and catalogue data on livestock health and productivity.

LiveGAPS is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded project supported by SEBI that for target countries in Asia and Africa:

  • Develops a baseline at the household scale for livestock systems
  • Identifies innovations (e.g. better nutrition, vaccinations, improved breeds) that can increase livestock productivity

“Our LiveGAPS work helps to define the most effective pathways to sustainably increase yield in terms of health, nutrition, genetics, or policy levers” said Mario Herrero.

“This assists the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to target investments in the livestock sector that maximise their impact for broad numbers of producers and consumers” said Mario Herrero.

Watch the videos

A full recording of the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security event is available on Facebook.

Watch a short video with interviews on YouTube.