FILE Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug dies at 95
(13 Sep 2009) AP TELEVISION 1. Wide of agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug with reporter 2. Close up of tape machine running 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Norman Borlaug, agricultural scientist: "There's no simple answers to these very complex problems. People today want to oversimplify, they want to remove one chemical compound and solve the problems of the environment. Were it so simple, but it just isn't." (Reporter: You obviously believe in the use of DDT and pesticides as far as agriculture is concerned. Is it necessary to have them?) "Yes sir, for certain kinds of uses it is absolutely necessary. And I am not concerned only about DDT, I am concerned about chemicals in general for agriculture. We're having troubles now feeding this hungry world. If you remove DDT with the hysteria that is present in the USA at the present time, and I must say a very privileged society, and despite all this I am very proud to be an American but I am also frightened by this hysteria. Remove DDT the next will be all chlorinated hydrocarbons, after that the organic phosphates, all insecticides, after that it will be all the weedkillers and the fungicides and then the fertilisers, if the hysteria prevails. And when this happens sir, the US will be importing food, only there won't be any place from where to import it." STORYLINE: Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of (m) millions of lives, died on Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95. Borlaug died on Saturday late in the evening at his home in Dallas from complications of cancer, said a school spokeswoman. The Nobel committee honoured Borlaug in 1970 for his contributions to high-yield crop varieties and bringing other agricultural innovations to the developing world. Many experts credit the green revolution with averting global famine during the second half of the 20th century and saving perhaps one (b) billion lives. Thanks to the green revolution, world food production more than doubled between 1960 and 1990. In Pakistan and India, two of the nations that benefited most from the new crop varieties, grain yields more than quadrupled over the period. Equal parts scientist and humanitarian, the Iowa-born Borlaug realised improved crop varieties were just part of the answer, and pressed governments for farmer-friendly economic policies and improved infrastructure to make markets accessible. A 2006 book about Borlaug is titled "The Man Who Fed the World." Borlaug began the work that led to his Nobel in Mexico at the end of World War II. There he used innovative breeding techniques to produce disease-resistant varieties of wheat that produced much more grain than traditional strains. He and others later took those varieties and similarly improved strains of rice and corn to Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa. During the 1950s and 1960s, public health improvements fuelled a population boom in underdeveloped nations, leading to concerns that agricultural systems could not keep up with growing food demand. Borlaug's work often is credited with expanding agriculture at just the moment such an increase in production was most needed. His successes in the 1960s came just as books like "The Population Bomb" were warning readers that mass starvation was inevitable. Borlaug often said wheat was only a vehicle for his real interest, which was to improve people's lives. project to fight poverty and starvation in Africa by teaching new drought-resistant farming methods. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
