Norman Ernest Borlaug (English: Norman Ernest Borlaug, March 25, 1914; died – September 12, 2009) was a Nobel Prize-winning American agricultural scientist, who is considered the father of the Green Revolution. Norman Borlaug was one of the five people who were awarded the ‘Nobel Peace Prize’, ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Apart from this, he also received India’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan. Norman Borlaug’s new experiments contributed significantly in initiating the Green Revolution in many developing countries including India, which were facing the grain problem. In the 1970s, he developed a new disease-fighting wheat variety in Mexico. His understanding behind this was that if the height of the plant is reduced, then the saved energy will be used in its seeds, i.e. grains, due to which the grain will grow more, hence the total crop production will increase.
Norman Borlaug brought about unprecedented changes in agriculture which is known as the Green Revolution all over the world. His revolutionary research on new varieties of wheat changed the map of agriculture, especially in developing countries. He also received the 1970 ‘Nobel Peace Prize’ for this extraordinary revolution in agriculture. Agriculture was the central point of Norman Borlaug’s life. He grew up on his parents’ farm in Iowa. This was a time when many farmers saw their crops being destroyed.[1]
Norman Borlaug’s grandfather urged him to get such education from the university that could possibly prevent the destruction of crops in the future. In fact, Norman Borlaug did much more than that. The research and work that made Norman Borlaug famous all over the world, he started that work in the 1960s, when he established the International Maize and Wheat in Mexico. After developing a disease-fighting variety of wheat, Norman Borlaug found that if varieties with small plants are grown, then the energy saved in the stem can be used in its grain i.e. seed, due to which the seed will grow more and in this way the total crop production will be more. It can also be understood in this way that if the plant of a variety of wheat is big, then it will require a lot of fertilizer and other natural energy and if that energy is used less in the plant, then the grain i.e. seed will get more energy and in this way the yield will increase.
Norman Borlaug soon succeeded in his experiment. The wheat variety with dwarf plants and larger grains became very popular in Latin America. Another specialty of this variety was that it could protect itself from crop diseases. After that, Norman Borlaug sent 60 thousand tons of this new variety of wheat and some fertilizers etc. to India and Pakistan where famine conditions prevailed. The new variety of wheat increased the crop yield by about 70 percent and after that India and Pakistan became self-sufficient in wheat production.
The Nobel Institute understood that this research of Norman Borlaug would provide relief from hunger to millions of people. Therefore, he was selected for the ‘Nobel Peace Prize’. While accepting the award, Norman Borlaug said – “I am very happy to receive this award but with it obviously there are many responsibilities which are much bigger. On me and those fighters of revolution against hunger who decided to support me, and that too without any expectation of any benefit.”
However, his research was criticized by environmentalists because his seeds and farming methods relied heavily on fertilizers, which gradually reduced the productivity of the land. Norman Borlaug argued that these new methods would also conserve nature because less land would have to be cultivated to increase yields, and low-tech, natural farming actually caused famine.
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, a scientist who made a significant contribution to the Green Revolution in India, considered Norman Borlaug’s contribution to be enormous, “Norman Borlaug was a great warrior fighting against hunger. His mission was not only to increase the production from agriculture, but he also wanted to ensure that food reaches the poor so that no person remains hungry anywhere in the world.” Dr. Borlaug continued working at his institute in Mexico even at the age of 90 and then he also trained scientists from developing countries about applying new technologies. In a conference in the Philippines in the year 2006, he said that “Many people around the world are still facing poverty and hunger. This condition of humans is explosive and we should never forget these problems.” Norman Borlaug, the scientist who transformed the agriculture sector in the 1960s, has said goodbye to this world at the age of 95.
