|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Robert F. Chandler, Jr.: Rice Remodeler
| Article
# : |
16330 |
|
|
Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
|
| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1989 |
2,586 Words |
| Author
: |
Michael Woods
Michael Woods, a contributing editor for THE WORLD & I, has
received numerous science-writing awards. |
In 1959 when Robert F. Chandler, Jr., became the founding director of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, the Philippines, Asia was facing a good crisis of unprecedented proportions.
Her population was growing rapidly, at a rate of about 2 to 3 percent per year. Many authorities believed that production of rice--the staple food for four-fifths of Asia's billions--would have to increase by more than 5 million tons per year to avert chronic, widespread famine.
"At best the world food outlook for the decades ahead is grave," Forest F. Hill, vice president for overseas development for the Ford Foundation, warned in 1959. "At worst it is frightening."
The problem involved not only burgeoning population growth, but Oryza sativa--rice--the grass that for centuries has meant life itself to Asians. For decades, rice yields had stagnated at levels so low there seemed little hope that Asia's food production could keep pace with population growth. In the mid-1930s, average rice yields in India, Burma, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand stood at 1,197 pounds/acre. Twenty years later, yields were essentially unchanged--1,232 pounds/acre.
By 1972, when Chandler left IRRI for fresh challenges, the situation had improved dramatically. Food production had won the race with population growth. New, high-yield varieties of rice developed at IRRI were being sown throughout Asia and grown with new techniques also developed at the institute. The better farmers were achieving rice yields of 4,400 to 6,160 pounds/acre. For the first time in modern history's, Asian per capital rice production had increased markedly. Famines predicted for the mid-1970s never occurred.
Chandler and IRRI, established by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, brought the green revolution to Asia, breeding a new form of rice--called IR8--that has fed billions of people.
Norman E. Borlaug, who received the 1970 Noble Peace Prize for pioneering the green revolution in wheat, describes Chandler as a man "whose singular efforts had made food available for billions of people in dozens of developing countries, who has blended science, teaching, and management to help expand the food supply for much of the world."
Perhaps more than any other person,
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
