Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], November 18 (NT): Microsoft co-founder and world’s greatest philanthropist Bill Gates has praised the Andhra Pradesh government for applying modern technology to help farmers in the state.

"Andhra Pradesh is enchanting audacious steps. I expect we will be pick up the pace in technology usage. More than half of India's population in affianced in agriculture, and three-fourths of rural women are engaged in agriculture. Apart from gender equality, research has revealed that having more women also increases production by 20 to 30 percent," Gates lauded at the valedictory session of the AP AgTech Summit-2017.

 Bill Gates also illustrated that the growth in economy will not only lead to a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also does away with people out of poverty.

"First, we can turn the largest economic sector in the country into a source of growth instead of a drag on the economy. Secondly, we can make sure that growth is inclusive and that it not only leads to a higher GDP but also lifts people out of poverty. Third, we can produce enough nutritious food to spurt a healthy and well educated labor force for the future, when the Indian economy will depend even more on highly skilled workers," he added.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu also attended the summit.

Naidu asked for help from Bill and Melinda Foundation in agriculture, nutrition and health.

Gates further asserted, "Two examples that I am very overwhelmed with; one is the Mega Seed Park, which in reality is the first of its kind and it will make available lots of high quality seeds and coupled with that is the new EC distribution application, D Krishi, which will aid farmers access quality seeds in an appropriate manner and make certain that the government's resources are being extensively used. These are the kind of modernization that will help attain the Chief Minister's goal of unrelenting double digit economic escalation in Andhra Pradesh over the subsequently decade.

This three-day global Summit was conducted by the Andhar Pradesh Government in association with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Dalberg Advisors.

More than 1,500 global cream of the crops from 61 countries including business heads, start-up founders, leading policymakers, progressive farmers, NGOs, agriculture and technology professionals took part in the summit over three days.