tags: africa, agriculture, food, mit_techreview, norman_borlaug, wheat, world_hunger
“Four decades ago, Norman E. Borlaug developed a wheat variety that fed the world. Now he’s battling a pathogen whose spread could cause starvation.”
– for doomsday-mongers, Borlaug was the party pooper who made sure that India would be able to feed itself. Today, we need that moxie again, more so in fact, given that governments have gotten cold feet about fighting the new variant of rust disease as well as helping Africa to food self-sufficiency. We should have a Marshall Plan for Africa, plus use all the biotech and modern methods available to ensure sufficient food, but it’s not coming together.