Gates urges digital revolution        
      Microsoft founder Bill Gates has called for a 'digital      revolution' to alleviate world hunger by increasing      agricultural productivity through satellites and      genetically-engineered seed varieties.    
      'We have to think hard about how to start taking advantage of      the digital revolution that is driving innovation including      in farming,' the US billionaire philanthropist said in a      speech at the UN rural poverty agency IFAD in Rome on      Thursday.    
      'If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture.      We believe that it's possible for small farmers to double and      in some cases even triple their yields in the next 20 years      while preserving the land,' Gates said.    
      He gave as one example of innovation the genetic sequencing      that allows cassava farmers in Africa to predict how      individual seedlings will perform, shortening the time it      takes to develop a new variety from 10 years to two.    
      Another key development is the use of satellite technology      developed by defence departments to document data about      individual fields, as well as information videos of farmers      discussing best practices to help others.    
      'If we don't do this, we'll have a digital divide in      agriculture,' he said.    
      Gates also defended the use of genetically modified organisms      (GMOs) in the developing world and large-scale farm land      investments by foreign states in the developing world - both      highly controversial issues in the aid community.    
      'You should go out and talk to people growing rice and say do      they mind that it was created in a laboratory when their      child has enough to eat?' he told reporters at a small media      roundtable after his speech.    
      'The change in the way mankind lives over the last several      hundred years is based on adoption of innovative practices      and we simply haven't done enough for those in the greatest      need to bring these things,' he said.    
      On the issue of land investments that are referred to by      their critics as 'land grabbing', he said: 'It's not actually      possible to grab the land. People don't put it on boats and      take it back to the Middle East.    
      'If we could have clear guidelines there could be more land      deals and overall it could be very beneficial ... The truth      is the person who is most at risk on a land deal is the      person who is putting the money in.'    
      Gates also unveiled $US200 million ($A188 million) in new      grants from his foundation to finance research on a new type      of drought-resistant maize, a vaccine to help livestock and a      project for training farmers.    
      'Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against      hunger and poverty,' he said, adding that his charitable      foundation had committed $2.0 billion for farmers and was      working on seven crops and one livestock vaccine.    
      Gates called for a new system of 'public scorecards' for      developing countries and UN food agencies that would measure      things like agricultural productivity, the ability to feed      families and farmer education systems.    
      'It's something that can be pulled together over the next      year,' he said.    
      'When I meet with an African leader, I'd love to have that      report card. I have a report card for health .... Without the      scorecards, the donors tend to fund fad-oriented, short-term      things,' he told reporters.    
      The technology pioneer also criticised the work of the UN      food agencies in Rome: the Food and Agriculture Organisation      (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the International      Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD).    
      He said the current food and farming aid system was 'outdated      and somewhat inefficient' with a lot of 'duplication'.    
      For these organisations to go digital will take 'a lot of      time', he said.    
      Asked about the need for wider reforms of capitalism to help      the poor, he said: 'How do you get rid of its excesses,      including the finance people who are paid these huge      salaries, without hurting the beneficial things?'    
      He added: 'I wish those Wall Street traders would have gone      ... and worked on maize and used their mathematical models to      look at phenotype versus genotype.    
      'It's clearly imperfect but it's the best system we have.'    
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Gates urges digital revolution