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Wheat breeder, Borlaug protege, receives World Food Prize

In a ceremony this week in Des Moines, the 2014 World Food Prize was presented to Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram for his scientific research that led to a significant increase in world wheat production.  He is credited with breeding 480 wheat varieties used in more than 50 countries.

The 71-year-old Rajaram, who grew up in India, is a protégé of World Food Prize founder Norman Borlaug.

“I describe Dr. Borlaug as not only a great scientist and agricultural leader, but also he was an exemplary plant breeder for us. He was not only the director of the program, he was on the front line doing (work) himself,” Rajaram said.

As a post-doctoral student, Rajaram worked with Borlaug in Mexico as he created disease-resistant strains of wheat which improved food security worldwide.  Rajaram remembers Borlaug as a “hard taskmaster” who worked long hours.

“One thing I learned from him was that he was a highly determined person. He was not easy to give up. I mean, we would not always succeed and he’d keep insisting,” Rajaram said.

Borlaug, who died in 2010 at the age of 95, called Rajaram “the greatest present-day wheat scientist in the world.” Rajaram succeeded Borlaug as director of the wheat breeding program at CIMMYT, an international maize and wheat improvement center based in Mexico.

Rajaram made his comments in an interview with Iowa Public Radio.

Radio Iowa also contributed to this story.