Two recent grants and a $10 million investment by the Gates Foundation aim to boost access to education and capital for African agriculture.

A $1 million grant today to Michigan State University will support a pilot project to create a virtual hub of agricultural education material.

The MSU researchers will work with African educators to develop material designed to improve agricultural practices in an 18-month project called AgShare Open Education Resources. The idea is to develop curriculum in the public domain to share freely among agricultural universities, NGOs and farmers around Africa.

DEBBIE DEVOE/CRS

Kenyan farmer Mildred Agola and her husband Patrick Karandi, left, greet partners in a Catholic Relief Services-led project to stem the spread of two diseases affecting the cassava plant. The project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Michigan State University received a $10.4 million grant from the Gates Foundation last year to train African biosafety regulators on the latest advances in technology. Members of the African Biosafety Network of Expertise are taking classes and working with MSU faculty to learn about biotechnology issues affecting small farmers.

The Gates Foundation is also using newly designated funds for Program-Related Investing to make a $10 million investment in Root Capital, based in Cambridge, Mass.

Root Capital funds grassroots enterprises in developing countries, loaning to small businesses that often fall through the cracks between microcredit and commercial banks.

Root Capital said it will use the Gates funding to expand its operations in sub-Saharan Africa, providing access to credit, financial management training and global market opportunities to small and growing rural businesses. Root Capital also received a $4 million operating grant from the Gates Foundation to support a five-year growth plan to achieve a financially sustainable lending program by 2013.

Speaking of increasing agricultural knowledge, a local technology non-profit called Literacy Bridge has reported successful results from its own pilot program. Founded by Cliff Schmidt, a former U.S. Navy nuclear engineer, Literacy Bridge makes a $10 portable audio computer called the Talking Book. The device (pictured below) is designed to spread knowledge among populations with low literacy rates. It can be used to play and record hours of messages, and recordings can be shared from one book to another.

Working with agriculture, education and health officials in Ghana, Literacy Bridge produced content for Talking Books with such basic advice as when to start clearing farms, how to plant rows and when to start sowing beans.

Literacy Bridge delivered 21 Talking Books to a small village, to be managed by local leaders and shared by residents. After the first year, the program helped achieve a 73 percent increase in crop production and a $45,000 increase in crop value, the non-profit reported last month.