(CNN) Bill Gates is renowned for his philanthropic work, but the billionaire's most recent campaign is out of the norm: he's promised to donate 100,000 chickens to countries with high levels of poverty, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chickens are easy and cheap to take care of, they keep children healthy and they empower women who sell chickens and are likely to reinvest the profits in their families, wrote Gates on his blog in June.

"It's pretty clear to me that just about anyone who's living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens," said Gates. Raising and then selling chickens can help families out of poverty, he believes. A farmer with 40 chickens has the potential to make over $1000 a year, versus the extreme poverty line of about $700 a year, according to Gates.

The Microsoft co-founder said his goal is to help 30% of the rural families in sub-Saharan Africa raise improved breeds of vaccinated chickens, a vast improvement from the 5% currently.

Families that keep chickens can use them either for their own meat or sell them. Gates also wrote that eating more eggs, rich in protein and other nutrients, can help fight malnutrition, and many farmers with small flocks find that it's more economical to let the eggs hatch, sell the chicks, and use the money to buy nutritious food.

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