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. “Respectfully, he should stop talking about Bolivia, and once he knows more, apologize to us.”

In his blog post 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.”

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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.berenson@time.com.