The Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation announced a joint effort to improve the quality of
Africa's depleted soils. The Buffett Foundation will contribute
$2 million to expand the work of N2Africa, an initiative of
Wageningen University in The Netherlands supported by the Gates
Foundation since 2009. The N2Africa initiative currently aims to
increase productivity of legumes and improve family nutrition,
soil health, and farm income by maximizing biological nitrogen
fixation with soybeans, groundnuts, common beans, and cowpeas in
eight countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria,
Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The
funding from the Buffett Foundation will ensure that N2Africa's
scientific approach takes root in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
"Africa needs a 'brown revolution' to improve soil quality and
increase agricultural productivity," says Howard G. Buffett,
president of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. "Our partnership
with the Gates Foundat