ABUJA - African farmers need better seeds to solve the continent’s malnutrition problem, Bill Gates said during a visit to Nigeria.

An estimated 278 million Africans are undernourished, according to anti-poverty charity Oxfam. It said that number was rising due to poor government policies, high inflation, and climate change.

Gates told a gathering in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, that malnutrition plays the biggest role in “holding back potential” in Africa and seeds can help tackle the problem.

Nigeria’s abundance of arable land should make it a net food exporter if traditional seeds and systems are improved to produce more at lower costs, said the billionaire philanthropist.

The Gates Foundation, set up by the Microsoft co-founder, has argued that innovation around seeds is key for climate adaptation.

There should be confidence in the country and the rest of Africa that “even as weather is changing due to climate change, we can come up with seeds that deal with the increased temperature and often can thrive with less water or too much water,” said Gates.