Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corp. and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, planned to outline $120 million in grants to boost farming and fight hunger and poverty in developing countries during a speech this morning at the World Food Prize.

In his first major address on agricultural development, Gates planned to say that the foundation will invest in programs for better seeds, training, market access and policies that support small farmers, according to a news release that cited a draft of the speech.

“Melinda and I believe that helping the poorest small-holder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is the world’s single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty,” Gates said in the release.

The foundation’s new grants include funding for legumes that fix nitrogen in the soil, higher-yielding varieties of sorghum and millet, and new varieties of sweet potatoes that resist pests and have high vitamin content.

Other projects will help the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa support African governments in developing policies that serve small farmers; help get information to farmers by radio and cell phone; support school feeding programs; provide training and resources that African governments can draw on as they regulate biotechnologies; and help women farmers in India manage their land and water resources sustainably.

To date, the foundation has committed $1.4 billion to agricultural development efforts.

Gates planned to say that unity among governments, donors, researchers, farmer groups, environmentalists and others is needed to help millions of the world’s poorest farming families boost their yields and incomes. Gates said the effort must be guided by the farmers themselves, adapted to local circumstances and sustainable for the economy and the environment.