Washington File

I congratulate BILL and MELINDA for your contribution towards eradication of hunger and poverty in many developing countries.I could also request you to assist me in volunteering work.
With thanks

Borlaug certainly deserves to be remembered. He was a guest speaker at Macdonald College of McGill University in the late sixties, and He gave a fascinating talk. There was, however, an element of luck in his choice of projects. Many of the products of modern genetics and plant breeding have not met with as much success in the developing areas.

The ideas and enthusiams shown above are very encouraging, i'm glad to see that you guys think about this stuff too. However, I'm surprised to see such a large discussion about african development without the mention of the Millenium Development Goals(MDGs). Created by UN and ratified by the G7 6 years ago, this is a plan that can, with the right funding, help end extreme world poverty and millions of needless deaths each year, and help dozens of countries worldwide start climbing the development ladder. See "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs. If only the G7 would actually make good on their funding commitments we could actually see some increadible things happen in our lifetime. Being a Canadian myself I have always thought our country is very benevolent towards the poor world... why is it then that we have fallen behind on our promise to provide 0.7%GDP to the implementation of the millenium development goals. We don't even have a deadline for meeting this goal. Personally, i would be more than happy to have 0.7% of my pre tax wages garnished if it was going to a respectable and accountable organization (UN) who was poised to save millions of lives per year and make the world a much safer and better place for all. From a financial perspective, Canada is the most able of all the G7 to implement this goal. (see "A race against time" by Steven Lewis) I am disappointed in our CBC for not being more vocal about our governments lack of initiative in this matter. I have always been and am very proud of our Nations Foreign policy and Humanitarian Efforts abroad, but if we are willing to sit by and allow millions to die needlessly because it is politically awkward to skim 7 pennies out of every $10 from our deep pockets then maybe we aren't so much better than our friendly neighbours to the south...

I am not a farmer/biologist/economist, but importing western style
monoculture crops, patented plants and subsidies, with their associated
designer-pesticide and fertilizer requirements, into Africa would be tragic.
Using Cuban style organic, patent-free and sustainable farming would be
the better solution. It sounds like Borlaug was supporting sustainable
farming. But I would have to assume big money would be supporting the
"Roundup Ready" solution. So, I fear this isn't really a gift but
a trap.

Bill and Melinda Gates are two very remarkable people. Where would the world be without their leadership and generousity? They will surely go down in history as the most caring people the planet has ever known.

It's seems I have touched a nerve with a couple of writers on here who seem to have focused on parts of my opinion and ignored the context.

I'm not against helping people, but simply feeding them and leaving them to wallow in poverty is not a solution to me. If it was me or my family, knowing what life has to offer I would choose death than to live in those conditions.

Who are we really helping, poor Africans, or guilt ridden N. Americans and Europeans?

Having said that, my point was that these foundations and charities are self serving entities and do nothing for the poor in Africa. Some of these charities collect more than the GDP of some of these African nations, so why after decades of collecting billions has the situation become worse?

Keep living in your humanitarian facades if it makes you feel better but it's doing nothing for the poor in Africa.

Skills to help them help themselves??? Many of these people live in conditions that most of us would succumb to in days. We get all bent out of shape (yes I am including myself here) when our A/C breaks down, or traffic is backed up, or the elevator doesn't work.

The fact is that many of these folks, especially in the Sahara region, are extremely skilled on using the land to its maximum potential.

Simply keeping these people alive? What the h*ll does that mean? JD, if it was your mother on her death bed, would you simply ask the doctor not to administer the medicine that would unquestionably prolong her life? Until the political problems are solved, I say that our ONLY choice to continue to "simply keep these people alive".

It's far from a perfect system, and those who skim off the top should be punished, but there is no other choice in my opinion.

Ahh yes, Bill and Malinda Gates have decided they want to become humanitarians. I see, so while they have accumulated billions on the backs of American and third world workers, not to mention consumers, they have now decided they want to give a little back.

So where to start, Oh I know we'll fund some of our scientist friends to come up with newer more African friendly seeds, that should do the trick. Of course we would hold the patents to these new super genetically modified seeds.

Then we can all fly over there first class and watch the first seeds be planted and pat ourselves on the back, with the cameras rolling of course...got to leave a legacy you know.

Borlaug took an old idea "teach a man to fish...." and made it work once again. There's no reason the Gates Foundation can't do the same. Given the tools (seeds) and the opportunity Africa can become self-sufficient. As for JD's comments I wonder if he read the article or was just looking for a spot to blow off some steam. This isn't about collecting money and making people dependant on charities but about developing a way to let the people help themselves. Thanks Warren, thanks Bill & Melinda. Keep up the good work.

It seems to me all these foundations are doing is keeping people alive but do nothing to educate them in family planning or skills to help them help themselves. Thus their populations grow and grow which makes it even harder to develop their societies.

Since WW2, all these charities have done is exacerbate the conditions in Africa by simply keeping these people alive and dependent on charities. They've lowered the death rate but have done nothing about the birth rate.

In the meantime, charities have become billion dollar multinational organizations that depend on continued misery for their survival. While people live in sqaulor waiting for a bag of rice from a international charity, the charity executives are earning in the six figures plus.

What is their incentive to solve poverty in the world? Billions of dollars are collected annully from donors every year, where does all this money go. It seems to me a billion dollars could transform a whole economy in some Afican states.

I found a grass N of Sault Ste Marie
which has almost every year produced large amounts of seed which is very tasty for at least ten years now. It is on an extremely poor dry gravelly soil so my guess is that it could be harvested bred selected hybridised. It could move the productive soil grain belt into Northern Canada the barren areas of the boreal forest belt N by several
hundred kilometers increasing the population of Canmada by a hundred million. Maybe not such a good idea.
What would Timmins look like as a million strong metropolis?
The problem is that we already have all the answers and knowledge to solve all our problems but nearly everyone avoids the effort of thinking and observation.
I am sure there are dozens of plants right now in Africa growing in extremely adverse conditions, rocky soil or else waterlogged which are already edible like my morthern grass and could be bred to be a high yield grain or crop food.

Good on the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for putting money into research to help feed the starving Africans. It is about time that the first world nations got serious about Africa and it's peoples. You can't become a thriving and developing nation if your population do not have sufficient food to enable them to get an education and to develope stable democracies on the continent.
Along with the foundations' emphasis on the health care of these poor people, maybe we can now look forward to a time of increased developement in Africa which can only make for a richer, safer and friendlier world for all of us.