Father of green revolution remembered in US

Dr. Norman Borlaug, known as the "father of the green revolution", was remembered for "his great contributions to the advancement of agriculture and food production in India" at a function here.

"When you consider the achievements of Dr. Norman Borlaug, you realise that this is what legends are made of," said India's Ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao at the event held Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of Borlaug's first visit to India.

Although Borlaug who died Sep 12, 2009 at the age of 95 "began his life's work in Mexico, his "grandest theatre of operations", as it has been termed, was India, Rao said.

The "miracle seeds" of various wheat varieties that he brought "ushered the green revolution placing India's food security on a firm foundation", the Indian envoy said.

The event was attended by members of the Borlaug family, the Indian-American Administrator of USAID, Rajiv Shah, Kenneth Quinn of the World Food Prize Programme and Julie Borlaug, associate director, Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture.

In a message on the occasion, Indian Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar recalled how "Borlaug led the global crusade against hunger with a missionary zeal and over the years succeeded in saving billions of lives from starvation".

"Borlaug left the world a heritage that includes billions of lives saved from the misery of starvation and inspired thousands of scientists worldwide who will continue to carry on his vision today and tomorrow," he said.

Observing that Borlaug spent most of his time "building a vast army of hunger fighters" to carry forward his vision by inspiring people around a very simple point that if one tried one can remove hunger in our life time.

"If my father were here today, he would praise our dedication to the science and technology that will feed a hungry world," said the agricultural scientist's daughter Jeanie Borlaug Laube.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)