Rajaram Wins World Food Prize

 

Rajaram (left) was referred to Borlaug (right) via Borlaug's graduate school contact from his days at the University of Minnesota, Dr. I.A. Watson. Here the two scientists work together in a Mexican wheat field.

Rajaram (left) was referred to Borlaug (right) via Borlaug’s graduate school contact from his days at the University of Minnesota, Dr. I.A. Watson. Here the two scientists work together in a Mexican wheat field. Photo credit: Gene Hettel.

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Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram was awarded the World Food Prize on June 18th for his research that has increased wheat yields and led to the development of 480 wheat varieties.

“These will deliver more than 200 million more tons of grain to global markets each year. Dr. Rajaram has helped to feed millions of people across the world through his lifetime of research and innovation,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a ceremony at the Department of State headquarters in downtown Washington, DC.

By crossbreeding winter and spring wheat, Rajaram has created varieties that are more resilient and productive under a greater spectrum of environmental stressors and threats of disease. He has designed varieties tolerant to aluminum and resistant to rust. To develop rust-resistant varieties, he manipulated several genes to enhance their ability to decelerate the spread of diseases. This technique, coined Slow Rusting, reduced the impact of rust disease microbes without provoking them to become unresponsive and non-resistant by mutating.

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The wheat varieties that he has developed hold the potential for yields that are 20% to 25% higher and are able to thrive in rugged, developing areas such as the rural and rocky highlands of Pakistan and China as well as in highly acidic soil as can be found in Brazil.

Click image for video: John Kerry delivers remarks at the World Food Prize ceremony June 18th in Washington, DC.

Click image for video: John Kerry delivers remarks at the World Food Prize ceremony June 18th in Washington, DC.

He has expanded on the shuttle-breeding technique, which involves planting crops twice a year: once in the north and once in the south in order to halve the amount of time necessary to test each variety and develop new adaptations according to climate, soil quality and elevation.

Born in 1943 in a village in Uttar Pradesh, India, Rajaram went on to earn a Ph.D. in plant breeding from the University of Sydney, Australia as a Rotary Club scholarship recipient. His professional relationship directly with World Food Prize creator himself Norman Borlaug was such that the two scientists worked side by side in the wheat fields of Mexico, with Rajaram ultimately succeeding Borlaug as leader of wheat breeding projects at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Rajaram is a Mexican citizen.

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