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桑贾亚•拉贾拉姆（右）与一位同事在国际玉米和小麦改良中心检查麦粒质量。

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Sanjaya Rajaram

Washington — Indian-born Sanjaya Rajaram, who headed the wheat-breeding program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico for decades, has been named 2014 World Food Prize laureate.

At a June 18 ceremony at the State Department in Washington, where World Food Prize Foundation President Kenneth Quinn announced Rajaram’s selection for the prestigious award, Secretary of State John Kerry said that “this is the time for a second green revolution. That’s why Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram is being honored now with the World Food Prize.

“We are grateful for the hundreds of new species of wheat that Dr. Rayaram has developed. These will deliver more than 200 million more tons of grain to global markets each year. And Dr. Rajaram has helped to feed millions of people across the world through his lifetime of research and innovation. That’s what President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative is all about — bringing the full force of … research and innovation to global food markets.”

Rajaram has dedicated his life to making direct improvements to wheat production and to working for the benefit of farmers around the world, Quinn said. He said that recognizing Rajaram’s achievements now is particularly important because 2014 is the year of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Norman Borlaug, founder of the wheat program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s International Year of Family Farming. Borlaug is credited with saving 1 billion people from starvation during the original “green revolution” of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Rajaram, who succeeded Borlaug at CIMMYT as head wheat scientist, is being honored “for his development of an astounding 480 varieties of high-yielding, disease- and pest-resistant wheat varieties that have been grown in 51 countries, Quinn said. Rajaram crossed varieties of winter and spring wheat with distinct gene pools, leading to the development of improved varieties.

“The challenges of 21st-century agriculture and food production are surmountable compared to the past and can be overcome, provided we can bring together new knowledge and delivery systems to farmers in a very sustainable manner,” Rajaram said after the Word Food Prize notified him of his award.

“Future crop production is bound to decline unless we fully factor in the issues related to climate change, soil fertility and water deficits and utilize genetics,” he said.

At CIMMYT, Rajaram implemented a major expansion of Borlaug’s breeding approach in countries beyond Mexico, emphasizing the adaptation of new plants to differing weather and soil conditions, superior grain quality and increased resistance to diseases and pests that can devastate farmers’ fields, the World Food Prize Foundation said. He used Borlaug’s breeding method, called shuttle-breeding, which involved growing two successive crops a year in northern and southern latitudes, producing two test generations of grain each year instead of one. That cut in half the number of years needed for research, the World Food Prize Foundation said.

Rajaram also launched efforts to expand the global scientific wheat network to include more exchanges of genetic resources, information and innovations.

Rajaram will receive his prize in mid-October during the annual Borlaug Dialogue symposium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Borlaug, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, created the World Food Prize in 1987 as the foremost international award recognizing achievements that increase the quality, quantity and availability of food around the world.