--- description: Bolivia's government said it is offended by Bill Gates' initiative to donate 100,000 chickens to help impoverished nations worldwide. title: Bolivia Offended By Bill Gates' Chicken Donation image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7d325959f6f3f02/698873912dce013e2a9e6c00/bill-gates.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Bolivia](/tag/bolivia/) ## Bolivia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Bolivia Offended By Bill Gates' Chicken Donation  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 17, 2016 1:49 PM CUT  Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Microsoft, at the Financial Inclusion Forum at the Treasury Department in Washington on Dec. 1, 2015. Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Microsoft, at the Financial Inclusion Forum at the Treasury Department in Washington on Dec. 1, 2015.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 17, 2016 1:49 PM CUT Bolivia’s government said it is offended by Bill Gates’ initiative to donate 100,000 chickens to help impoverished nations, including Bolivia, worldwide. “He does not know Bolivia’s reality to think we are living 500 years ago, in the middle of the jungle not knowing how to produce,” said César Cocarico, Bolivia’s minister of land and rural development, [according to The Verge](http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/16/11952200/bill-gates-bolivia-chickens-refused "undefined"). “Respectfully, he should stop talking about Bolivia, and once he knows more, apologize to us.” In his [blog post](https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Why-I-Would-Raise-Chickens "undefined") announcing the initiative, dubbed “Coop Dreams,” the Microsoft billionaire wrote, “It’s pretty clear to me that just about anyone who’s living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens. In fact, if I were in their shoes, that’s what I would do—I would raise chickens…. When I was growing up, chickens weren’t something you studied, they were something you made silly jokes about. It has been eye-opening for me to learn what a difference they can make in the fight against poverty. It sounds funny, but I mean it when I say that I am excited about chickens.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4372930/bolivia-chicken-bill-gates-donation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4372930/bolivia-chicken-bill-gates-donation/"},"headline":"Bolivia Offended By Bill Gates' Chicken Donation","datePublished":"2016-06-17T13:49:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:40:47.715Z","description":"The farms minister demanded an apology","url":"https://time.com/4372930/bolivia-chicken-bill-gates-donation/","keywords":["Bolivia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7d325959f6f3f02/698873912dce013e2a9e6c00/bill-gates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7d325959f6f3f02/698873912dce013e2a9e6c00/bill-gates.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Microsoft, at the Financial Inclusion Forum at the Treasury Department in Washington on Dec. 1, 2015.","caption":"Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Microsoft, at the Financial Inclusion Forum at the Treasury Department in Washington on Dec. 1, 2015.","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bolivia/","name":"Bolivia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4372930/bolivia-chicken-bill-gates-donation/","name":"Bolivia Offended By Bill Gates' Chicken Donation"}}]}] ```