Bill Gates latest claim that technology is the solution to world hunger has been called out by fifty organizations that are dedicated to food sovereignty and food
In an “open letter” published earlier this month, the groups addressed comments made by Gates during interviews with The New York Times and The Associated Press, about The Gates Foundation 2022 Report.
The Defender reports: The letter’s lead authors, Community Alliance for Global Justice/AGRA Watch and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, wrote:
“In both articles, you make a number of claims that are inaccurate and need to be challenged. Both pieces admit that the world currently produces enough food to adequately feed all the earth’s inhabitants, yet you continue to fundamentally misdiagnose the problem as relating to low productivity; we do not need to increase production as much as to assure more equitable access to food.”
The authors also criticized Gates’ claims that we’ve “underinvested in agricultural innovation” and that the Green Revolution was “one of the greatest things that ever happened.”
Gates told The New York Times:
“Helping farmers has got to be the very top of the climate adaptation agenda. And within that, you have a lot of things like credit for fertilizer, cheap fertilizer, better seeds that we should be very intent on –– funding those things and setting ambitious goals for.”
But the authors of the open letter disagreed:
“There are already many tangible, ongoing proposals and projects that work to boost productivity and food security –– from biofertilizer and biopesticide manufacturing facilities, to agroecological farmer training programs, to experimentation with new water and soil management techniques, low-input farming systems, and pest-deterring plant species.”
They also disagreed with Gates’ claim that the Green Revolution was a “resounding success”:
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