MSU continues to expand its global reach with its latest grant of $7.8 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The grant is a part of the Gates Foundation Global Development Program and is expected to benefit 10 African universities in eight nations throughout the next four years as MSU researchers help them meet agricultural needs, such as being more agriculturally productive.
Thomas Jayne, a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics and the project’s co-director, has been working in Zambia for the past two years to help transition MSU’s long-standing food policy project there into an independent, Zambian-managed agricultural policy institute that is expected to be a subrecipient of funding under the grant.
“It became apparent as discussions with the Gates Foundation progressed that MSU’s long-standing commitment to institution building was a major reason as to why (the Gates Foundation) put its trust in MSU for this grant,” Jayne said in an email. “It is clear to me that today’s faculty are indebted to former MSU faculty, such as John Hannah, Carl Eicher, John Staatz and many others who created this legacy.”
This isn’t the first time MSU has received a grant from the Gates Foundation. Throughout the past few years, MSU has received several grants, including a $4 million grant in 2008 to analyze sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural marketing and trade systems.
International relations sophomore and African Students Union President Nasi Sene said this is an amazing opportunity for the African community to improve.
“I definitely feel like it’s a blessing,” Sene said. “There are so (many) challenges with the lack of education and resources (in Africa). (The continent) has so much to offer.”
Duncan Boughton, a co-director of Food Security Group in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, said the grant will allow MSU to work alongside counterparts from African countries.
Boughton said this will help the university examine examples to identify lessons for policies and strategies to increase food availability.
“The project is one example of how a major public university in the United States can align its distinctive strengths to help African researchers and policymakers enable their citizens to achieve food security,” Boughton said. “Many African small-holder farmers are not able to produce enough food to meet their own needs or to sell to growing urban populations.”
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