Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told the international agricultural community it had fallen short of delivering the help small farmers in developing countries need, when they need it.

In a speech delivered at the International Fund for Agricultural Development earlier this year, Mr Gates asked the UN bodies responsible for fighting hunger and poverty to unite around a common global target for sustainable productivity growth to guide and measure their efforts.

“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture,” said Mr Gates.

“Investment in agriculture is the best weapon against hunger and poverty and they have made life better for billions of people.

“The international agriculture community needs to be more innovative, coordinated and focused to help poor farmers grow more.

“If we can do that, we can dramatically reduce suffering and build self-sufficiency.”

Mr Gates told IFAD, the World Food Programme, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that the approach being used today to fight against poverty and hunger is outdated and inefficient.

He urged these food agencies to commit to a concrete, measurable target for increasing agricultural productivity and to support a system of public score cards to maximise transparency for themselves, donors and the countries they support.

“The goal is to move from examples of success to sustainable productivity in-creases to hundreds of millions of people moving out of poverty,” said Mr Gates.