Gates Foundation Awards $3.87 Million to Pairwise and IITA for CRISPR Gene-Edited Yam in Nigeria
The Gates Foundation awarded $3.87 million to IITA and Pairwise for the YOAGE (Yam Optimized Architecture through Gene Editing) project, using Pairwise's CRISPR Fulcrum platform to develop semi-dwarf, bushy yam varieties suitable for mechanised farming in Nigeria. Nigeria produces 66 percent of the world's yams; traditional cultivation requires labour-intensive pole staking. Gene-edited compact varieties cut labour costs, enable mechanical harvesting, and improve smallholder incomes for one of West Africa's most important food and income crops.
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January 2026
Gates Foundation Awards $4.98 Million to Heritable Agriculture for AI-Driven Climate-Resilient Crop Genomics
In January 2026, the Gates Foundation awarded $4.98 million to Heritable Agriculture — an AI crop improvement company spun from Google X — for the JASON project, deploying a cloud-based AI genomics engine to identify drought and heat tolerance gene targets in staple crops for LMIC smallholder farmers. JASON aims to compress conventional crop breeding timelines and deliver climate-resilient germplasm faster to the nearly 2 billion people whose incomes depend on smallholder agriculture.
May 2026
Gates Foundation and Anthropic Launch $200 Million AI Partnership for Global Health and Smallholder Agriculture
On May 14, 2026, the Gates Foundation and Anthropic announced a $200 million four-year partnership — the largest between an AI company and a global philanthropy — combining grants, AI credits, and technical support. The partnership deploys AI to screen drug and vaccine candidates, detect patterns in systematic health reviews, and support smallholder farming decisions with locally customised crop knowledge in sub-Saharan Africa and India. Education initiatives include AI-powered tutoring for K-12 students and foundational literacy tools across Africa and India.
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