The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent nearly $6 billion on agricultural development, with a key focus on transforming African agriculture by transitioning farmers to patented seeds and fossil-fuel based fertilizers to grow staple crops for the global market. Leading experts in food security and hundreds of groups in Africa and around the world say the foundation’s market-based agricultural development strategies are aiding multinational corporations more than small farmers and communities in Africa, even as hunger and inequality worsen. This fact sheet links to reports, critiques and news articles describing these concerns. We will update it regularly.

Overview of critiques

The Gates Foundation’s core strategy to reduce hunger in Africa is to expand industrial agricultural practices in ways that increase production of commodity crops for the global market. The foundation says its goal is to “boost the yields and incomes of millions of small farmers in Africa… so they can lift themselves and their families out of hunger and poverty.”