Transcript Document

60 Years Fighting Hunger…
Personal Recollections
Norman E. Borlaug
Borlaug Farm and
Boyhood 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.
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”
Shuttle Breeding and Multi-location
International Testing Produced the
Broadly Adapted Mexican Wheat that
Triggered the Green Revolution
29º
•Days getting
shorter
1,200 Km
*Days getting
longer
19º
* Initial period after sowing
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
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
Profiles in Courage
Malik Khuda Baskh Bucha
Minister of Agriculture,
Pakistan
C. Subramaniam
Minister of Agriculture,
India
Chinese Leadership
Chou En-Lai
Prime Minister
1949-76
Deng-Xiaoping
Paramount Leader
1978-89
He Kang
Minister of Agriculture
1978-90
Green Revolution:
Changes in Factors of Production in
Developing Countries of Asia
1961
1970
1980
1990
2000
Adoption of
Modern varieties
Wheat
Rice Irrigation
million ha
M ha / % area
0 / 0%
0 / 0%
87
14 / 20%
15 / 20%
106
39 / 49%
55 / 43%
129
60 / 70%
85 / 65%
158
70 / 84%
100 / 74%
175
Fertilizer
Nutrient
Cereal
Use
Tractors Production
million t millions
million t
2
10
29
54
70
0.2
0.5
2.0
3.4
4.8
309
463
618
858
962
Source: FAOSTAT, July 2002 and author’s estimated on modern variety adoption, based
on CIMMYT and IRRI data.
World Cereal* Production–Areas Saved
Through Improved Technology, 1950-2000
Million hectares
1,800
1,400
CEREAL PRODUCTION
1950
650 million tonnes
2000 1,900 million tonnes
LAND
SPARED
1.1 billion ha
1,000
600
LAND USED
660 million ha
200
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
* Uses milled rice equivalents
Source: FAO Production Yearbooks and AGROSTAT
2000
Agroforestry
Hara 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
Wildlife Coming Back
in the USA
High-Yield Agriculture & Forestry
Will Help Protect African Wildlife
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 isolation—lack of roads and transport
Poor education and health services
Lack of Infrastructure Is
Killing Africa
Kilometers of paved roads per
million people in selected countries
USA
France
Japan
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Brazil
India
China
Km
20,987
12,673
9,102
1,586
1,402
1,064
1,004
803
Guinea
Ghana
Nigeria
Mozambique
Tanzania
Uganda
Ethiopia
Congo, DR
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002
Km
637
494
230
141
114
94
66
59
Started in 1986
At present covers 10
countries in eastern,
central and western
Africa.
Mali
Burkina
Faso
Guinea
Nigeria
Ghana
Togo
Benin
SasakawaGlobal 2000
Program
Eritrea
Sudan
Ethiopia
Uganda
Malawi
Active
Tanzania
Zambia
Concluded
Mozambique
SG 2000 Demonstration Plots
Moderate amounts of
fertilizer
Improved varieties
Good stands
Timely planting &
weeding
Sasakawa-Global 2000
Maize Demonstration Yields
6
Demontration Plots
National Average
t/ha
5
4
3
2
1
0
Ghana Nigeria* Mali/ MozambiqueUganda Ethiopia* Malawi*
Burkina Faso
* Primarily using hybrids
Quality Protein Maize (QPM)
A Non-GMO Forerunner
•
•
•
Opaque-2 gene—Purdue
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
Conservation Tillage
•
•
Saves labor
Restores organic
matter
•Controls weed
• Reduces erosion
• Conserves moisture
BIOTECHNOLOGY
AND FOOD
Controversy over
Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs)
We’re all related—what
does “Foreign DNA”
really mean?
Mother nature is also a
biotechnologist !
GMOs for 21st Century
Insect and
Disease
Resistance
Herbicide
Resistance
Nutritional
Quality
Abiotic
Stresses
Genetic Yield Potential
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
My
“Biotechnology
Dreams”
Transfer rice’s immunity to the rusts
(Puccinia spp.) to other cereals—wheat,
maize, sorghum, barley, etc
Transfer bread wheat’s proteins—
gliadin and glutenin—for making
superior dough for leavened bread to
other cereals, especially rice and maize
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
Soybean Rust Epidemic
Two species; Asian type most
aggressive
2001—Only small area in South
America infected
2003—Brazilian producers lost
US$ 1.3 billion (lost yield and
fungicides)
2004—Expected to affect most
regions of South America
2005-06—Expected to reach
North America
Could cause US$ 4.5 billion in
damage to U.S. soybean crop
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.
Agriculture and Peace
Only 8% of countries with the lowest
levels of hunger are mired in conflict
56% of countries with highest levels of
hunger have civil conflict
World 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
CUTTING ADULT ILLITERACY
Male
320 million
Female
550 million
TOTAL = 870 million people
+ 120 million primary school age
children not in school
“You Cannot
Build Peace
on Empty
Stomachs.”
John Boyd Orr
Nobel Peace Laureate
First FAO Director General