The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Monday it wants to tap top scientific minds to help improve the plight of small farmers in the developing world.

The Seattle-based philanthropy announced a $48 million collaboration with the National Science Foundation to fund cutting-edge research on ways to make crops resistant to drought, disease and pests, improve soil quality and tackle a wide range of problems that limit agricultural productivity in Africa and other poor corners of the world.

Each organization will provide $24 million over five years.

"This partnership with the NSF is an exciting opportunity to tap into the most innovative, transformative ideas the global scientific community can offer," said Rob Horsch, deputy director of the Gates Foundation's agricultural development initiative.

Research on genetically-modified plants could be included in the program, said Deborah Delmer, NSF manager for the collaboration, called BREAD: Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development.

"Genetic engineering is a tool," she said. "We're not going to hold back any kind of science from being considered in these projects."

Unlike most Gates Foundation programs, those who get grants under the new collaboration will be selected largely through the NSF's well-established peer review process. The process enlists experts in various fields to review the relative merits of the thousands of grant applications the federal science organization receives every year. The Gates Foundation also will have a say in grant selection.

"The vetting will be done by NSF," Horsch said. "The idea is to do this differently than we handle a lot of other grants, to get that broad solicitation of novel ideas and the very high level of peer-review scrutiny."

BREAD will also encourage applications from researchers in the developing world.

Some critics question whether science can solve the problems of famine and poverty among poor farmers.

"People are hungry for one reason only — they are too poor to buy food," said Philip Bereano, emeritus professor of technology and public policy at the University of Washington. Until the underlying social and economic conditions responsible for poverty are addressed, "the likelihood is that the NSF/Gates program will make some folks here feel good but not feed many folks over there," said Bereano, who recently helped found the Seattle-based group AGRA Watch, to monitor the Gates Foundation's agricultural programs.

The Gates Foundation has committed $1.2 billion to programs to help small farmers, Horsch said.

he BREAD program will put out its initial call for grant applications in early June, and will provide more details then. The first grants will be awarded in early 2010.

A Web site will be established soon at: www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5338&org=BIO.

Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com