Videos > Agriculture & Lands

The video looks at the role of land ownership, subsistence farming, the caste system, climate, globalisation, lack of access to basic services, the plight of women. It shows the impacts of this poverty and what life is like in a poor rural area and goes on to look at various ways this poverty can be alleviated, including: providing better access to education, health, improving farming methods, micro-credit schemes aimed at women and care of the orphan Elders left behind as the young migrate to the city.

Rice is an important staple in Kenya, and demand is growing. Yet the country produces less than a third of what it needs, and relies on imports to make up the difference. Just one year after the UN Food and Agriculture Organizations 'Initiative on Soaring Food Prices' invested in the renovation of an abandoned irrigation scheme, rice farmers in Ahero are achieving remarkable results. The revival of rice farming in this area shows what a difference even a small investment in agriculture can make.

What benefits the farmers, could threaten the livelihood of many needy people in developing nations throughout Africa and Asia.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, says support for agriculture in the developing world has been relatively neglected in recent decades, and is a critical tool to drive development in rural areas, where the vast majority of the world's poorest