GATES FOUNDATION AWARDS $13.4 MILLION TO IDE

IDE shows results increasing income of subsistence farmers

DENVER—World poverty is a problem. IDE is a solution. After remarkable success in creating more income for rural subsistence farmers the world over, Colorado’s biggest nonprofit foreign assistance organization is attracting the attention of some very big spenders.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has just awarded International Development Enterprises (IDE) a $13.4 million grant to develop and promote low-cost irrigation methods for rural poor in Africa and Asia and to help create markets for the agricultural products they produce.

IDE plans to increase the net incomes of 40,000 small-plot subsistence farmers, mostly in rural areas who earn $1 a day, by at least $200 annually. Additionally, the technology sales and markets these farmers create will increase incomes of another 60,000 by $100 annually. 

“IDE is leading a revolution in helping subsistence farmers who live on $1 dollar a day to help themselves,” said IDE founder and president, Paul Polak. “The Gates grant is an affirmation that IDE delivers sustainable results with a proven market-based approach. This grant will allow us to take our approach a step further by creating the very best and lowest cost irrigation systems and making them available to people who need them most.”

IDE has assisted 17 million people over 25 years and created over 10,000 micro enterprises.

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave IDE $13.4 million because we recognized IDE as a leader in using irrigation technologies to help subsistence farmers lift themselves out of poverty,” said Roy Steiner from the Gates Foundation. “They are advancing an important method of assisting farmers through access to water and markets. We are proud to be partnering with them.”

The grant will sponsor research and development of irrigation technology and markets in Ethiopia and Zambia in Africa, and Nepal and Myanmar in Asia, over four years.

The approach rests on sound economic principles of making labor more productive through access to low-cost irrigation systems and with no direct subsidies. IDE uses donated capital to develop affordable, income-producing technologies for smallholders and creates markets for them. This approach spawns the development of sustainable market-driven micro-enterprises that reach millions. 

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to reduce inequities and improve lives around the world. In developing countries, it focuses on improving health, reducing extreme poverty and increasing access to technology in public libraries. In the United States, the foundation seeks to ensure that all people have access to a great education and to technology in public libraries. In its local region, it focuses on improving the lives of low-income families. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and Co-chairs William H. Gates Sr., Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. For more information, please visit: www.gatesfoundation.org.

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www.ideorg.org

Note: Photos and field contacts available upon request.

Facts about the Gates Grant

The grant will begin by implementing technology design and development facilities in Ethiopia, India, Nepal and Myanmar where private facilities and expertise are readily available. (IDE has a research and design base in India and Nepal that has been underway for a number of years.)
 
The grant from the Gates Foundation will fund the research and development of 13 water technologies that have been identified as promising for further cost reduction, greater efficiency or redesign for specific needs of small-hold farmers. (These are affordable wells, Treadle pumps, deep-set manual pumps, rope pumps, micro-diesel pumps, solar pumps, wind-driven pumps, header bags for drip systems, enclosed water storage, lined ponds and tanks, drip irrigation technologies, low-pressure sprinkle systems and piped mini-surface systems.)
 
The systems will be rigorously tested through technical development, field trials, market testing and marketing to farms in the grant countries. Then ‘value chains’ are created through recruitment and training of manufacturers, assemblers, wholesalers, dealers and installers. A ‘value chain’ is a link among farmers, traders, transport, collection centers, credit and market outlets.

IDE works with farmers to analyze crops, water resources and the most applicable technologies for the highest returns for farmers. IDE implements village-level marketing, education and social mobilization to ensure farmers’ sustained success.

IDE draws on the experience of country programs and those of partner organizations, Keller-Bliesner Engineering, LLC and PRACTICA, IDE-India and others.

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For more information, go to www.ideorg.org