Food Prize winner: Share research

AMES, Iowa — At Iowa State University's eighth annual Norman E. Borlaug Lecture Monday night, the 2009 World Food Prize winner, Gebisa Ejeta, praised ISU as the “Mecca of plant breeding.”

Ejeta's lecture, titled “Revitalizing Agricultural Research for Global Food Security,” stressed the importance of spurring agricultural education in poor countries, rather than just sending foreign aid.

This is the first time that the current food prize winner has given the Borlaug Lecture, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said.

The lecture began with a brief synopsis of the work of Iowa native Norman Borlaug, who died in September and was widely known as “the father of the green revolution” and “the man who fed the world.” The crowd of nearly 200 stood and observed a moment of silence in his honor.

Ejeta, who is from Ethiopia, is a professor at Purdue University and a world-renowned plant breeder who developed new sorghum varieties now in use by more than a half billion people in Africa.

Ejeta said he was honored to be selected as this year's lecturer because of Iowa State's high standing in the world of plant breeding.

“I'll stick my neck out and say that Iowa State University is really the mecca of plant breeding,” said Ejeta, eliciting applause from the crowd.

Global climate change and rapid population growth are increasing the complexity of the world hunger problem, Ejeta said, and the world population is expected to continue to grow over the next four decades.

“The implication of that is we will have to figure out some way to double our food production,” Ejeta said. “We have to do more in this area in the next four decades than we have since the dawn of civilization.”

Ejeta shared some startling numbers throughout the lecture, including the fact that the average U.S. citizen spends only 9.6 percent of his disposable income on food, while the average citizen in the world's poorest countries spends about 70 percent.

He said that the United States is the world leader in agricultural development, and therefore has a responsibility to share research with poor countries — not just because it's the right thing to do, but to improve our national security.

“It's more than the right thing to do, it would heighten the global stature of American diplomacy,” Ejeta said.

Ejeta suggested that American universities pair up with “sister universities” in developing countries to share their research. He commended ISU on its partnerships in Central and South America, the first of which was started in 1945.

Ejeta said that some of the biggest problems of world hunger are already being addressed, but its going to take a switch in foreign policy from simple food aid to sharing agricultural research to save poor countries from hunger.

“I'm certain with some rethinking, the available talent can find a way to confront all of these problems,” Ejeta said.

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