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Norman Borlaug: the Man I Worked with and Knew

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Norman Borlaug: the Man I Worked with and Knew PY49CH03-Rajaram ARI 18 February 2011 22:42 V I E E W R S I E N C N A D V A Norman Borlaug: The Man I Worked With and Knew Sanjaya Rajaram1,2 1Resource Seeds International, Toluca, Mexico 2ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria Annu. Rev. Phytopathol. 2011. 49:3.1–3.14 Keywords The Annual Review of Phytopathology is online at famine, hunger, agricultural, development, wheat breeding, CGIAR phyto.annualreviews.org centers. This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-phyto-072910-095308 Abstract Copyright c 2011 by Annual Reviews. Much has been written about Norman Borlaug the agricultural scientist All rights reserved and humanitarian whose achievements are recognized with many acco- 0066-4286/11/0908/0001$20.00 lades; to add to those writings is a difficult task. This brief paper is an attempt to provide a personal perspective on Norman Borlaug that can come only from someone who has worked closely with him throughout his professional life. I have endeavored to recollect my early impressions of working with Borlaug as a wheat breeder in Mexico and to highlight his innovative approach to wheat breeding, as well as his views on global population and food security, fertilizers, organic agriculture, biotech- nology, and conventional academia. His work ethic was instrumental in his vision for the international agricultural system as an instrument of change in the world. His spirit serves as a reminder to future agricul- tural scientists that the battle must be vigorously engaged and can be won. 3.1 PY49CH03-Rajaram ARI 18 February 2011 22:42 INTRODUCTION (7) provided a concise synthesis of his life, with special emphasis on the legacy of his achieve- As we begin the twenty-first century, disqui- ments, his inspiration for future generations of CIMMYT: Centro eting concerns about the future of mankind scientists and leaders, and his global recogni- Internacional de and its ability to sustain itself have been loudly tions, in addition to his role in establishing the Majoramiento de articulated (1). Given projections for world Maize y Trigo World Food Prize, agriculture’s equivalent of population by mid-century, food, feed fiber, the Nobel Prize. Like Borlaug himself, Quinn and fuel production have to be doubled on lamented the declining support for agricultural existing farmland. Consequently, the big issues research and development. facing agricultural production systems are The many articles about the life and work (a) food security, (b) efficient resource utiliza- of Dr. Norman Borlaug were mainly penned tion, (c) enhanced soil, water and air quality, by journalists and other acquaintances; less has biodiversity, and ecosystem health, and (d ) eco- been heard from people who interacted with nomic viability and social responsibility. As the him at various stages of his long career. Now, challenges of feeding the world’s population just one year after his death, it is difficult to write have never been greater (2), it is appropriate to something about Norman Borlaug that has not critically assess the capacity of world agricul- been written before. Anyone undertaking that ture to respond to these momentous challenges challenging task can only hope to bring an ad- (3). In so doing, we should reflect on a man ditional prospective on a life so well described. whose gargantuan achievements in stimulating With due humility, I am attempting to do just agriculture output, particularly with cereals, set that. him apart from all other luminaries of the past As a wheat breeder hired by Dr. Borlaug in century. That man was Norman Borlaug, who the late 1960s, I had the privilege of working was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, largely with the great man himself side-by-side in the because feeding people and staving off hunger experimental fields of El Batan, Toluca, and are a prerequisite for sustaining peace. He was Ciudad Obregon managed by Centro Inter- often quoted as saying “World peace will not ´ nacional de Majoramiento de Maize y Trigo be built on empty stomachs,” a statement that (CIMMYT) for many years. I fondly remem- was to describe his life-long mission. ber his love of nature; on occasions in the field Norman Borlaug has been lauded as an when he would hear the “chanate” bird sing, outstanding scientist who impacted the lives of Norman used to whistle to imitate the bird. many, as well as a visionary, hero, humanitarian, Later as Wheat Program Director, I interacted orator, and a great communicator. Volumes closely with him as a senior colleague and per- have been written about Dr. Borlaug (e.g., 4–7). sonal friend while he was at CIMMYT after In a comprehensive overview of Borlaug’s life, official retirement. As a mentor and inspira- Leon Hesser (6), an agricultural administrator tional colleague, I was privileged to gain a whoworkedwithNormaninPakistaninthe unique insight into Norman Borlaug, the sci- late 1960s, and later a journalist, described entist and the man. With a sense of awe and Norman’s humble beginnings in Iowa, the honor, I approach the task of formulating my course of his academic career at the University abiding impressions of a man whose presence of Minnesota, how he came to Mexico with dominated my life for four decades. the Rockefeller Foundation, his revolutionary As a background to presenting recollections approach to wheat breeding, and his influence on Dr. Borlaug, I believe the dedication he in the Indian subcontinent and China as the made in his personal copy of Hesser’s book (6) driving force behind the Green Revolution, establishes the privileged professional and per- and later in Africa, the most intransigent area sonal relationship I had with him. It is a dedi- of the world for agricultural development, and cation I greatly treasure. yet the most needy. A recent review by Quinn 3.2 Rajaram PY49CH03-Rajaram ARI 18 February 2011 22:42 To My Grand “Amigo” and Scientific coincidently, was a fellow student with Borlaug Colleague-Sanjaya Rajaram. It has been for under the celebrated Professor E.C. Stakeman me a great privilege and satisfaction to see you at the University of Minnesota. The name of IARI: Indian develop into the greatest present-day wheat Borlaug was inseparably linked to the concept Agricultural Research scientist in the world. You have made and con- of rust resistance of short-strawed semi-dwarf Institute tinue to make many important contributions wheat, the subject of my doctoral dissertation to further improving world wheat production in 1968. At an International Wheat Genetics but also to other cereal crops. You have trained Symposium in that same year in Adelaide, hundreds of wheat scientists from countries Borlaug stressed the need for young scientists around the world. Moreover, you have learned to tackle the emerging issue of rust in wheat; to work effectively in many different countries Watson strongly recommended me to Borlaug, with political leaders of different ideologies. a suggestion that was ultimately to dictate the And finally you are a scientist of great vision. course of my life as a wheat breeder, and I You are not afraid of change. You are deter- entered the orbit of Norman Borlaug and the mined to use new technology, e.g., transgenic realm of the CIMMYT in Mexico. But it was be GMO to further agricultural production. Lo- sometime before this transition would occur. cated as you are at present, in (ICARDA), you Returning to India from Australia, I jour- are in part of the world (West Asia and North neyed from Varanasi to New Delhi, where Africa-WANA) which will require great fur- I met Dr. Swaminathan, director of IARI. A ther increase in food production in the next professional position with IARI was in the three decades. I am confident that with your offing, but it was delayed by bureaucratic red leadership this goal can be met. Best Wishes tape. At that time, the notion of the Green and Keep Fighting, Yours Sincerely, Norm Revolution was taking hold in the Indian Borlaug. 13/4/07 subcontinent (8). Dr. Robert Glenn Anderson, a wheat breeder from Canada, headed the Rockefeller Wheat Program in New Delhi and HOW I KNEW NORMAN was the driving force behind the promotion BORLAUG of the short-strawed, “miracle” wheat varieties In a long professional life that was dominated that originated from Dr. Borlaug in Mexico. by my association with Norman Borlaug, my Borlaug wanted me to join his program as early experiences were punctuated by sporadic postdoc in Mexico, and accordingly I accepted references to Dr. Borlaug that later evolved to the offer to work with Glenn Anderson and the an acquaintance and finally a life-long scientific Rockefeller Foundation in India for a period of association and friendship. My first recollection six months. This life-changing decision came at of the name of Dr. Borlaug stems from when a time of momentous change in the world, when I was a graduate student at the Indian Agri- questioning and protests were the order of the cultural Research Institute (IARI) New Delhi day, and after three months, the postdoc offer and Dr. Borlaug was invited by the Govern- in Mexico matured. At the same time, a tempo- ment of India and the Rockefeller Foundation; rary offer from IARI was made, with a view to he was hosted by the Head of the Division of permanency. Swayed by Glenn Anderson and Genetics, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, who himself lured by the challenges offered by Borlaug and was later to achieve worldwide celebrity status CIMMYT, I reluctantly declined the offer from as an agriculture scientist. IARI and set my sights on Mexico in May 1969. Subsequently, as a PhD student at the The Mexico that I first saw was an im- Agricultural Faculty of the University of poverished state with a poor rural popula- Sydney, the name of Dr.
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