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On 25 March 1914, a child was born in a farmer’s family in Iowa, USA, whose name was Norman Borlaug, who later became known as the father of Green Revolution.
In the 1930s, he saw terrible poverty and food crisis, this is the reason due to which he got inspired to serve the farmers and the entire human race through agricultural science. He later did his PhD in plant pathology and then went to Mexico where he worked to improve wheat cultivation. In that period, Norman Borlaug’s technology saved billions of people from starvation.
Thus, he became known as the father of Green Revolution. The biggest message of his life was that “Science and compassion should work together.”
Decision to reduce the height of the wheat plant
When Norman Borlaug was working in Mexico, the farmers were very worried about the height of the wheat crop, because this crop gave good yield along with height, but the problem with this was that due to being tall as well as heavy, the plants would fall even with light winds and the yield of the crop would reduce.
To overcome this problem, Norman Borlaug adopted a new technique. He studied the dwarf wheat variety of Japan named ‘Norin 10’ and developed different species of wheat by mixing it with the varieties giving good yield. Then these varieties started giving good yield and the plants also did not fall.
Norman Borlaug and the Nobel Peace Prize
Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Norman was working in his field as usual when his wife informed him about the Nobel Prize. On hearing this news, Norman said very simply that now he will have to get a big suit made. Norman, who is simple and humble by nature, remained the same even after receiving the award. When people asked him whether he was a Nobel laureate, he smiled and said, I am just a farmer who wants to help other farmers.
Norman also did a lot of work in the field of agriculture with M.S Swaminathan, who is called the father of the Green Revolution in India.
Padma Vibhushan Award
In the year 2006, the Government of India honoured Norman Borlaug with the Padma Vibhushan Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of agriculture.
A great inventor in the field of agriculture
Norman’s research on wheat varieties worked on the yield of more than 5000 varieties. Due to which the yield increased by 200 to 300 percent.
Helped India and Pakistan
When both India and Pakistan were struggling with famine in the 1960s, Norman Borlaug sent his developed wheat varieties to both the countries. In the year 1966, India ordered 18,000 tons of wheat seeds, due to which the production of wheat in our country started increasing rapidly.
Summary
Thus we see that Norman Borlaug was a true human being endowed with all human qualities. He not only worked for his country but also used his agricultural technology in the service of the entire human race. That is why today we also know him as the father of Green Revolution and a Nobel Prize winner.
This great man died on 12 September 2009 at the age of 95. The world will always be grateful for his work.
