 | World Food Prize awarded
~ Purdue University
Oct. 30, 2009 - On Oct. 15, Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, Purdue University professor, received the World Food Prize during a ceremony at the Iowa State Capitol building. |
| Dr. Gibesa Ejeta is congratulated after receiving the World Food Prize at the Iowa State Capitol building on October 15, 2009. | |
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EJETA was notified last June that he was chosen to receive the $250,000 prize that is awarded annually to individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food worldwide. The late Norman E. Borlaug, winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, established the World Food Prize in 1986.
Dr. Ejeta was honored at Purdue's West Lafayette campus during Gebisa Ejeta Day on Oct. 22. "I focused my research on sorghum because I'm originally from Africa, and I've known about the importance of the crop to the people there," Ejeta said in a press release. "So I wanted to work on improving sorghum."
Purdue President France A. Cordova praised Ejeta's work and determination. "Dr. Ejeta is proof that one person can make a big difference in the world and in helping solve its grand challenges," Cordova said in a press release. "His efforts to meet the challenge of world hunger represent the best in Purdue research. He is a most deserving winner of the World Food Prize."
Jay Akridge, Purdue's Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, agreed. "Dr. Ejeta's research has improved the food supply for more than half a billion people in several African countries," Akridge said in a press release. "His work is a powerful demonstration of the difference agricultural research can make in creating a more secure and consistent food supply for millions of people. We're obviously very proud of Gebisa and are thrilled that he was selected to receive the 2009 World Food Prize."
According to information from Purdue University, sorghum is an important cereal grain to Africa, but arid conditions and the deadly weed Striga make growing the crop difficult for farmers. Ejeta began researching genetic answers as a graduate student at Purdue in the mid-1970s. His work took him to rain-starved northern Sudan after he received a doctoral degree in plant breeding and genetics from Purdue in 1978.
Five years later, Ejeta developed the drought-tolerant Hageen Dura- 1, a sorghum cultivar that produces yields up to 150 percent higher than traditional varieties. About 1 million acres of the drought-tolerant sorghum is grown in Sudan each year.
Ejeta then turned his attention to Striga - an insidious weed that can cause crop losses of 40 percent in sorghum fields. After 15 years of research, Ejeta and late Purdue colleague Larry Butler identified a chemical signal in sorghum plants that attracts Striga rootlets, which work their way into sorghum plants and remove valuable nutrients. That discovery led Ejeta to develop a biological mechanism for interrupting that chemical signal.
Ejeta is Purdue's second World Food Prize winner in three years. Philip Nelson, Purdue's Scholle Chair Professor in Food Processing and former head of the university's Department of Food Science, won the 2007 award for developing Word of the Day aseptic bulk storage and distribution.
