DR. AMIT ROY
IFDC PRESIDENT AND CEO
1992-2015
“AS I PREPARE TO
WITNESSING FOOD
MOVE TO THE NEXT
SHORTAGES PAVES
PHASE OF MY LIFE,
CAREER PATH
I WOULD LIKE TO
passion for food issues
SHARE SOME LESSONS My
began in 1965 when I was
18. As I arrived at the Indian
FROM MY 37-YEAR
Institute of Technology’s student
INVIGORATING,
housing, the town of Kharagpur
CHALLENGING
was empty and serene. But this
was misleading because India
AND REWARDING
was in the midst of severe food
ADVENTURE.”
shortages caused by a series
THE GREEN
REVOLUTION
of droughts and crop failures.
Thousands left their failing
farms to seek work and food in
the cities. After witnessing this
situation, I began to understand
why food is a fundamental
human right.
Continuous low agricultural
productivity, coupled with
crop failure, triggered India’s
adoption of effective policies
and improved seeds and
fertilizers. In 1966, then-Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi declared
the country would no longer
rely on food aid. When the
government purchased and
distributed 47,000 tons of
improved wheat seed varieties
developed by the late Norman
Borlaug, food production
skyrocketed. This was the start
of the Green Revolution, and
I realized innovative agrarian
tools are the weapons to
winning the hunger battle.
Between the 1940s and the late 1960s, agricultural research boomed. Nobel
laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug and other scientists bred high-yielding varieties
of cereals and encouraged judicious use of fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.
These agricultural technologies and practices spread across Latin America and
into Asia, especially India and Pakistan. The Green Revolution’s successes are
far-reaching. Cereal production in developing nations increased more than
twofold from 1961 to 1985. Many believe the improved technologies helped
avoid widespread famine.
REFLECTIONS
IFDC
ON MY CAREER AT