Recently, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates paid a visit to Cairns to have a look at as to how the bananas QUT plan bio-technologist James Dale is working on the project of cultivating a banana rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals.

The bananas are being cultivated at Innisfail. Bill Gates has invested in the project. The project was initiated with the hope of supplying the bananas to the population of South Africa. Banana is said to be the most affordable diet for people living in the countries like Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Every day, about one kilogram of bananas is consumed by the people. With the pursuit of continuing the supply of bananas in these regions Bill Gate decided to create bananas so that any shortage of it could be prevented.

It has been informed that Bill Gates has invested an amount of $10 million for the project. It is believed that Bananas thus produced will have the vitamins and minerals which will directly help in boosting the immune system of people.

Professor James Dale who is currently supervising the cultivation of Bananas said that the Bananas thus produced would be rich in Vitamin A. In sub-Saharan Africa, deficiency of Vitamin A and iron are two major public health issues.

It has been revealed that Bill Gates is interested in taking the project to higher level. Now, the focus would be to introduce certain elements which would make the immune of the consumer stronger to fight disease called Fusarium wilt race 1.

For the project, the funding will be made by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program. Professor James Dale was reported as saying, “It was a tremendous privilege…involved in the project to meet with the Gates and experience in person their commitment and enthusiasm”.