US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates announced on Wednesday that they will be launching a global agricultural fund to increase food production in developing countries. The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, set to be unveiled in Washington on Thursday, aims to assist farmers in producing more food and generating higher incomes from farming. Gates and Geithner highlighted the importance of supporting small farmers and impoverished individuals, especially as the world's population grows and climate change leads to water shortages that can devastate crops. The fund was initially proposed by the United States at a Group of Eight meeting in Italy in 2008, calling for countries to collaborate and invest in agriculture in the world's most impoverished nations. Gates and Geithner announced that commitments for the fund total nearly $900 million from now until 2012. They stated that Canada, Spain, and South Korea will be contributing funding. The fund, overseen by the World Bank, will provide financial support to impoverished nations with high levels of food insecurity that have established effective agricultural plans to enhance crop production. The fund will focus on investing in infrastructure to connect farmers to markets, promote sustainable water management, and improve access to superior seeds and technologies. The surge in global food prices in 2008, reaching record highs, underscored the persistent lack of investment in agriculture in developing countries, where three-quarters of the impoverished population resides in rural areas. The Gates Foundation has a history of supporting projects that aim to enhance agricultural production for small-scale farmers in Africa and other regions. The foundation has focused on improving food access and has collaborated with the United Nations World Food Programme. Despite the world producing enough food to eliminate hunger, over 1 billion people are still hungry due to financial constraints or lack of access to food supplies.