WASHINGTON – Norman Borlaug, the American agricultural scientist who received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for developing high-yielding crops to prevent famine in the developing world, has died at the age of 95.
Borlaug, hailed as a central figure in the “green revolution” that made more food available for the world’s hungry, died in Dallas on Saturday night from cancer complications.
The “green revolution” – the development of crops such as wheat that delivered better yields than traditional strains – is credited with helping avert massive famines that had been predicted in the developing world in the last half of the 20th century.
Borlaug served as a distinguished professor of international agriculture at Texas AM University, located in College Station, Texas.
Experts have said his crusade to develop high-yielding, disease-resistant crops saved the lives of millions of people worldwide who otherwise may have been doomed to starvation. His efforts to develop new crop varieties helped alleviate food shortages in places such as India and Pakistan, helping make developing countries self-sufficient in food production.
He was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2007, Borlaug also received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour of the United States.
“We all eat at least three times a day in privileged nations and yet we take food for granted,” Borlaug said recently. “There has been great progress and food is more equitably distributed, but hunger is commonplace and famine appears all too often.”
In 1944 he was appointed as geneticist and plant pathologist assigned to the job of organising and directing the Co-operative Wheat Research and Production Programme in Mexico.
This joint undertaking of the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation philanthropic organisation focused upon scientific research in genetics, plant-breeding and related fields. Within two decades he succeeded in finding a high-yielding disease-resistant wheat. The Iowa-born scientist then worked to put newly developed cereal strains into extensive production.
“It is the hope of the Borlaug family that his life be an example to all,” his children said. “We would like his life to be a model for making a difference in the lives of others and to bring about efforts to end human misery for all mankind.” – (Reuters)