April 30, 2008 CRS Announces Grant to Help Small-Scale Farmers Protect Cassava from Disease Four-Year Project Aims to Boost Food Production Through Access to Improved Varieties

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A $21.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is enabling Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its partners to help small farmers in central and east Africa protect cassava—a critical source of food and income—from two spreading pandemics that are decimating as much as 70 percent of crop yields.

The four-year Great Lakes Cassava Initiative will help reduce the prevalence of cassava mosaic disease and cassava brown streak disease in six countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Farmers will gain increased access to improved cassava varieties that are adapted to local conditions, resist diseases and have higher yields—helping to promote food security and ease the burden of the global rise in food prices.

To read the full press release, visit the CRS Web site.

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.