Dr. Roland Buresh Receives 2011 IFA Norman Borlaug Award
19 April 2011 The laureate of the 2011 IFA Norman Borlaug Award for excellence in crop nutrition research is Dr. Roland Buresh of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, according to a press release.
Dr. Buresh is principal scientist at IRRI where he leads the institute’s work on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). The award recognizes his work in transforming the scientific concept of SSNM to innovative knowledge transfer tools based on decision-support software, the Internet, mobile phones and field practices readily usable by rice growers. Such tools bring precision agriculture techniques to small-scale farmers in developing countries, according to IRRI.
Dr. Buresh has been working on nutrient and crop management for the past 30 years. He joined IRRI in 2000 and has since been involved in work focusing on rice, such as sustainable management of intensive irrigated rice, crop residue management and management of rice-maize cropping systems.
Through his involvement with the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) – a partnership between IRRI, national research centers in ten Asian countries and the private sector, Dr. Buresh initiated the development of innovative knowledge transfer tools targeting specifically small-scale farmers in Asia and potentially in many more regions, according to IRRI.
Dr. Buresh’s most recent and recognized accomplishment is ‘Nutrient Manager’, an IT-based decision-support tool that provides extension workers, farmers and researchers field-specific nutrient management practices for rice. Nutrient Manager is expected to be adopted by many more countries. Local versions for Bangladesh, China, India, Vietnam, and West Africa are under development, according to IRRI.
Dr. Buresh is the 20th recipient of the award. He was nominated by Atlas Fertilizer Corporation in the Philippines, and has been selected by an independent jury among 12 high-level candidates from developed countries and international agricultural research and development centers, according to the release.
Dr Buresh graduated from Louisiana State University in 1978 with a PhD in Marine Sciences. He also received a M.Sc. in soil science from North Dakota State University.
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