Ethiopian Scientist Wins World Food Prize
By ERIC WEDDLE
eweddle@jconline.com
by Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton in a ceremony in
Washington, D.C.
Ejeta, a distinguished professor of agronomy at Purdue University,
designed sorghum hybrid seeds that are resistant to drought and
crippling weeds and have led to boosting the food supply of hundreds of
millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa since the early 1980s.
"I grew up in the middle of poverty, in rural Ethiopia, so I was sensitive
to the problems of poor farmers," he said. "That empathy has always
been a part of me because I come from there. But I went into
agricultural serendipitously."
Ejeta is the second Purdue professor and alumni in the past three years
to become a laureate - a singular title among researchers working in
every corner of the food and agriculture sciences.
In 2007 professor Philip Nelson was selected for his method of storing
and shipping mass quantities of processed foods.
Ejeta's breakthroughs "illustrate what can be achieved when cutting-
edge technology and international cooperation in agriculture are used to
uplift and empower the world's most vulnerable people," said Norman
Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the World Food
Prize.
Colleagues at Purdue say Ejeta also has been mentoring a new
generation of African scientists while at the university in addition to
pursuing his research.
Since the late 1970s Ejeta has designed more than 80 seed types to
combat a variety of ecological hurdles faced by African farmers and to
also assist U.S. companies with sorghum variants.
Sorghum, called one of the world's five principal grains, is the base of
dozens of foods, from bread to porridge to beverages. It also is eaten as
a boiled grain.
"It is a staff of life in many African countries," Ejeta said.
Then he began work as a plant breeder for a nonprofit crops research
institute in Sudan.
"I was just flabbergasted by the kind of low yields that were being
made, and I thought I could make a difference," he said. "It become a
personal conviction of mine."
The result was a hybrid, drought-tolerant seed called Hageen Dura-1,
released in 1983.
Farmers found their yields increased to more than 150 percent greater
than local sorghum.
To combat African farmers' massive and deadly nemesis, the parasitic
weed Striga, Ejeta spent 15 years designing a hybrid that was resilient to
each part of the weed's makeup.
Ejeta, who has been a professor at Purdue since 1984, credited the
university for allowing him to work on seed development, agencies that
funded the research and the many opportunities of traveling to Africa to
implement projects, that lead to his success.
He calls the prize the highest honor for those working in food and
agriculture. And the $250,000 prize is pretty nice too.
"I have the best of both worlds," he said. "I really do."
For more on the award and Ejeta's research, check back with jconline.
com and read Friday's J&C.
Courtesy
By ERIC WEDDLE
eweddle@jconline.com
- 11 June, 2009 (Journal & Courier) -
When Gebisa Ejeta was growing up
in Ethiopia, living in a one-room hut
with his family he didn't plan on
radically transforming crop
production in the African country.
- But today he was named winner of
the 2009 World Food Prize, often
called the Nobel Prize of the food
and agricultural world, for doing just
by Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton in a ceremony in
Washington, D.C.
Ejeta, a distinguished professor of agronomy at Purdue University,
designed sorghum hybrid seeds that are resistant to drought and
crippling weeds and have led to boosting the food supply of hundreds of
millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa since the early 1980s.
"I grew up in the middle of poverty, in rural Ethiopia, so I was sensitive
to the problems of poor farmers," he said. "That empathy has always
been a part of me because I come from there. But I went into
agricultural serendipitously."
Ejeta is the second Purdue professor and alumni in the past three years
to become a laureate - a singular title among researchers working in
every corner of the food and agriculture sciences.
In 2007 professor Philip Nelson was selected for his method of storing
and shipping mass quantities of processed foods.
Ejeta's breakthroughs "illustrate what can be achieved when cutting-
edge technology and international cooperation in agriculture are used to
uplift and empower the world's most vulnerable people," said Norman
Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the World Food
Prize.
Colleagues at Purdue say Ejeta also has been mentoring a new
generation of African scientists while at the university in addition to
pursuing his research.
Since the late 1970s Ejeta has designed more than 80 seed types to
combat a variety of ecological hurdles faced by African farmers and to
also assist U.S. companies with sorghum variants.
Sorghum, called one of the world's five principal grains, is the base of
dozens of foods, from bread to porridge to beverages. It also is eaten as
a boiled grain.
"It is a staff of life in many African countries," Ejeta said.
- Ejeta graduated from an Ethiopian college in
1973 with a degree in plant sciences. After
meeting and working with a Purdue
specialist in sorghum, Ejeta was invited to
attend graduate school in West Lafayette. In
1978 he finished his doctorate at Purdue in
plant breeding and genetics.
Then he began work as a plant breeder for a nonprofit crops research
institute in Sudan.
"I was just flabbergasted by the kind of low yields that were being
made, and I thought I could make a difference," he said. "It become a
personal conviction of mine."
The result was a hybrid, drought-tolerant seed called Hageen Dura-1,
released in 1983.
Farmers found their yields increased to more than 150 percent greater
than local sorghum.
To combat African farmers' massive and deadly nemesis, the parasitic
weed Striga, Ejeta spent 15 years designing a hybrid that was resilient to
each part of the weed's makeup.
Ejeta, who has been a professor at Purdue since 1984, credited the
university for allowing him to work on seed development, agencies that
funded the research and the many opportunities of traveling to Africa to
implement projects, that lead to his success.
He calls the prize the highest honor for those working in food and
agriculture. And the $250,000 prize is pretty nice too.
"I have the best of both worlds," he said. "I really do."
For more on the award and Ejeta's research, check back with jconline.
com and read Friday's J&C.
Courtesy
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"I was sensitive
to the problems
of poor
farmers,"
to the problems
of poor
farmers,"