Malvika Dekhane

In 1970, the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to Dr Norman Borlaug for his significant contribution to World Peace by increasing global food supply and achieving food security in many parts of the world. So far, he is the only agriculturist and agronomist awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr Borlaug, with his unique method of improved wheat grains and intensive agricultural practices, brought about the Green Revolution, which increased the food supply manyfold and ensured food security for more than a billion people. The Atlantic Monthly in 1987 said, “Norman Borlaug has already saved more lives than anyone who has ever lived.” 

It is interesting to note that Borlaug helped curb hunger and poverty due to repeated crop failure, the very factors that had forced his ancestors to migrate from Norway to America in the mid nineteenth century. The family never forgot this ordeal, and their values and lifestyle were shaped around this experience. Borlaug learned these values at an early age. Norman Borlaug was born on 25 March 1914. He grew up on his ancestral farm in Iowa, gaining first-hand knowledge about farming. Borlaug, a bright…read more on NOPR