60 Years Fighting Hunger Personal Recollections Norman E' Borlaug

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60 Years Fighting HungerPersonal Recollections
Norman E. Borlaug
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Borlaug Farm andBoyhood School house

• Raised in a Norwegian community in northeast
  Iowa, on 100-acre mixed crop and livestock farm
• Attended this one-room school house for the first
  eight years.

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Mexican Government-Rockefeller Foundation
Cooperative Agricultural Program 1943-1960

• Multidisciplinary research focus to increase
  yields and production
• Train a multidisciplinary corps of young Mexican
  scientists
• Get research results to farmers as soon as
  possible
• RF staff to work themselves out of a job

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Shuttle Breeding and Multi-location International
Testing Produced the Broadly Adapted Mexican
Wheat that Triggered the Green Revolution

• Days getting shorter

29º
1,200 Km
Days getting longer
19º
Initial period after sowing
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FAO/Rockefeller/Mexican Government Training
Program

• Started in late 1960
• Young scientists from North Africa, Near- and
  Middle-East
• In-service training in all the disciplines
• Trainees took HYV semidwarf seed technology back
  home
• International multi-location yield nurseries

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Wheat Seed Shipments to Asia

• 1965 250 tons to Pakistan
• 200 tons to India
• 1966 18,000 tons to India
• 1967 42,000 tons to Pakistan
• 21,000 tons to Turkey

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Profiles in Courage
Malik Khuda Baskh Bucha Minister of Agriculture,
Pakistan
C. Subramaniam Minister of Agriculture, India
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Chinese Leadership
Chou En-Lai Prime Minister 1949-76
Deng-Xiaoping Paramount Leader 1978-89
He Kang Minister of Agriculture 1978-90
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Green RevolutionChanges in Factors of
Production in Developing Countries of Asia
Fertilizer
Nutrient Cereal Wheat Rice Irrigation Use
Tractors Production million ha million t
millions million t
Adoption ofModern varieties
M ha / area
1961 0 / 0 0 / 0 87 2 0.2 3091970 14 / 20 15
/ 20 106 10 0.5 4631980 39 / 49 55 /
43 129 29 2.0 6181990 60 / 70 85 /
65 158 54 3.4 8582000 70 / 84 100 /
74 175 70 4.8 962 Source FAOSTAT, July 2002
and authors estimated on modern variety
adoption, based on CIMMYT and IRRI data.
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World Cereal ProductionAreas Saved Through
Improved Technology, 1950-2000
CEREAL PRODUCTION 1950 650 million tonnes
2000 1,900 million tonnes
1,800
LAND SPARED1.1 billion ha
1,400
1,000
Million hectares
600
LAND USED 660 million ha
200
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
Uses milled rice equivalentsSource FAO
Production Yearbooks and AGROSTAT
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AgroforestryHara Farms, Haryana
Poplar, 50 t/ha/year, 10-year cycle
Poplar, mangoes, wheat
Locally, 15,000 tons of timber logs a day are
converted into ply, wood board, flush doors,
etc, in 400 processing facilities over the last
15 years worth US 500 million a year
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Wildlife Coming Back in the USA
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High-Yield Agriculture Forestry Will Help
Protect African Wildlife
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Africa is the Greatest Worry
High population growth, even with AIDS 200
million hungry and malnourished people
Declining soil fertility and little
application improved technology Rural
isolationlack of roads and transport Poor
education and health services
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Lack of Infrastructure Is Killing Africa
Kilometers of paved roads per million people in
selected countries
Km KmUSA 20,987 Guinea 637France
12,673 Ghana 494Japan 9,102 Nigeria 230Zimbabwe
1,586 Mozambique 141South Africa 1,402 Tanzania 1
14Brazil 1,064 Uganda 94India 1,004 Ethiopia 66
China 803 Congo, DR 59 Source
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002
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Sasakawa-Global 2000 Program

• Started in 1986
• At present covers 10
• countries in eastern, central and western
• Africa.

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SG 2000 Demonstration Plots

• Moderate amounts of
• fertilizer
• Improved varieties
• Good stands
• Timely planting
• weeding

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Sasakawa-Global 2000 Maize Demonstration Yields
t/ha
0
Ghana
Nigeria
Mozambique
Uganda
Ethiopia
Malawi
Mali/ Burkina Faso
Primarily using hybrids
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Quality Protein Maize (QPM)
A Non-GMO Forerunner

• Opaque-2 genePurdue University discovery (1963)
• high lysine
• high tryptophan
• CIMMYT Conversion from soft to hard grain at
  CIMMYT (1970-78)
• Need to manage the opaque-2 gene in seed
  production

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Conservation Tillage

• Saves labor
• Restores organic
• matter
• Controls weed
• Reduces erosion
• Conserves moisture

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BIOTECHNOLOGYAND FOOD
Controversy over Genetically Modified Organisms
(GMOs)Were all relatedwhat does Foreign DNA
really mean?Mother nature is also a
biotechnologist !
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GMOs for 21st Century
Insect and Disease Resistance
Herbicide Resistance
Nutritional Quality
Abiotic Stresses
Genetic Yield Potential
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Bt Cotton

• 7 million ha around the world 4 million small
  farmers
• Excellent control of boll worm
• Major reduction in insecticide use
• Substantial reductions in poisoning of farmers
• Significant increase in farmer profits

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My Biotechnology Dreams
Transfer rices immunity to the rusts (Puccinia
spp.) to other cerealswheat, maize, sorghum,
barley, etcTransfer bread wheats
proteinsgliadin and gluteninfor making
superior dough for leavened bread to other
cereals, especially rice and maize
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Dark Clouds Gathering in World Wheat Economy
Per capita production declining since 1997
International germplasm exchange testing
declining
New disease threats emerging, e.g. stem rust
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Soybean Rust Epidemic

• Two species Asian type most aggressive
• 2001Only small area in South America infected
• 2003Brazilian producers lost US 1.3 billion
  (lost yield and fungicides)
• 2004Expected to affect most regions of South
  America
• 2005-06Expected to reach North America
• Could cause US 4.5 billion in damage to U.S.
  soybean crop

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Need to Restore Public Research Funding

• Green Revolution was the result of public
  goods research and investment
• Biotechnology is primarily driven by the private
  sector
• Maintaining a balance between public and
• private research is essential and healthy
• Public institutions focus on problems of the
  poor, help prepare future scientists, and help
  assure that the public interest is protected.

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Agriculture and Peace
Only 8 of countries with the lowest levels of
hunger are mired in conflict56 of countries
with highest levels of hunger have civil
conflictWorld military budgets in 2004 exceed
US 900 billion annually (USA accounts for 56 of
total)In 2000, international donor support to
agriculture reached lowest level in history
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CUTTING ADULT ILLITERACY
Male 320 million
Female 550 million
TOTAL 870 million people 120 million primary
school age children not in school
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You Cannot Build Peace on Empty Stomachs. John
Boyd Orr Nobel Peace Laureate First FAO Director
General