Agricultural Scientist Receives World Food Prize

Agricultural Scientist Receives World Food Prize

An Indian origin crop scientist has been credited with the development of hundreds of varieties of disease-resistant wheat adaptable to different climates and growing conditions has been named as the recipient of the 2014 World Food Prize. Sanjaya Rajaram at 71 has won the $250,000 prize founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug. This prize honors vital contributions for improving the quaity and quantity as well as the availability of food across the globe.

Rajaram was born in India and is the citizen of Mexico. He commenced with the research and field work with Borlaug in the year 1969. Rajaram crossed varieties of winter and spring wheat using plant breeding techniques leading to the development of plant breeding techniques that signify higher yields and depend on a wide range of environments.

This is critical for keeping pace with a booming world population. Rajaram is credited with developing 480 varieties released in 51 countries on 6 continents. Rajaram acknowledged the honor bestowed by the World Food Prize Committee. Rajaram has indicated that developing plants with greater drought tolerance is essential for staving off effects of salt water intrusion as there is a rise in oceans and climate change impacts the earth in different ways.

Future crop production will decline till the issues related to climate change, soil fertility and water deficits are taken head on and advanced genetics in the next 20 to 30 years is the best way to combat this, Rajaram said in a telephone interview to a leading media group.

Rajaram hails from a small village in Uttar Pradesh in the northeast where people survive on very little. He has worked upon his mentor Borlaug's research and expanded further on it, according to World Food Prize Foundation President Kenneth Quinn.

Rajaram's breakthrough in breeding technologies will have far reaching impact on ensuring food security and alleviating world hunger, according to a statement issued by Quinn. The organization based in Des Moines celebrated the centennial of Borlaug's 1914 birth in Cresco, Iowa even as Rajaram received the prize.

The World Food Prize was launched by Borlaug in the year 1986. He died in the year 2009. Borlaug won the 1970 Nobel prize for boosting agricultural production. He referred to Rajaram as the “greatest present-day wheat scientist in the world”.

Rajaram has succeeded Borlaug in the wheat research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center founded in 1966. A agreement has formed between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture.

Rajaram's new varieties can be grown in marginal areas such as small mountain plots in Pakistan as well as remote areas in China. These new varieties can also be grown in the acidic soils of Brazil. Rajaram has also planned to give some of the money from the prize to private organizations in India that work with the poor. He will use the remaining money for plant breeding research. Rajaram now leads the effort to save 1 billion human lives. With global projections indicating that the world population will grow by 2 billion in the next 3 decades, the importance of Rajaram's research is apparent to all.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has also acknowledged the tremendous initiative of Rajaram in heralding a second Green Revolution to save countless lives in the times to come. The hundreds of new species of wheat Dr. Rajaran developed can deliver 200 million more tonne grain to international markets across the world and feed millions across the globe.

The population of the world is currently around 7 billion. We need more scientists like Rajaram if mankind has to have a brighter future. Developing the skills of the scientists through world class education programs and funding is what is urgently needed. For those who wonder if science has all the answers, the doubt should be over with new innovations in every field. Our scientists can help us survive and access a brighter future. They deserve acknowledgment and funding for programs and initiatives that can make the world a better place.