CAAS Scientist Receives 2010 IFA Norman Borlaug Award
12 April 2010 PARIS, France — According to an IFA press release, Dr. Jiyun Jin of the Soil and Fertilizer Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has won the the 2010 IFA Norman Borlaug Award for excellence in crop nutrition knowledge transfer for his work to improve soil fertility and fertilizer management practices. His work, which has influenced more than 400 million farmers, has been widely disseminated through field demonstrations, farmers’ meetings, field inspection activities, brochures, leaflets, videos, TV, radio, posters and web sites, as well as via a television series on soil fertility management he developed, which was distributed through the China Central Agricultural Broadcasting School and CCTV agricultural channel.
Jin, who is currently a CAAS Professor of Plant Nutrition and Fertilization, President of the Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Sciences, and Director of the China Program of the International Plant Nutrition Institute, has spent the last 25 years working on ways to improve soil, increase crop productivity and raise farmers’ incomes in China. Jin has developed knowledge transfer tools to educate farmers on the results of laboratory research, and his group attempts to bridge the knowledge gap between research, extension services and the practices of China’s farmers, who largely cultivate small-sized plots and lack knowledge of good fertilization practices. According to IFA’s press relase, field trials indicate that balanced fertilization technology can increase farmers’ incomes by between $118 to $265/hectare for grain crops, and by between $295 to $2,950/hectare for cash crops.
Some of the tools he developed for improving fertilizer use efficiency and crop production are:
- Site-specific nutrient management for small-scale farms
- Use of Geographic Information Systems for precision nutrient management
- Web-based fertilizer recommendation programs
Get The Newsletter Today!
