Revitalizing Agricultural Research for Global Food Security

Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia is the recipient of the 2009 World Food Prize for his work developing sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed, or witchweed. The science has increased the production and availability of sorghum, one of the world's five principal grains and a staple in the diet of 500 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa. Ejeta was raised in a one-room thatched hut in rural Ethiopia and through education was able to rise out of poverty. It was during the 1980s while working in Sudan that he developed his first hybrid sorghum. He subsequently worked to integrate seed distribution with farmer education programs and conservation initiatives and to promote economic development in rural Africa. Ejeta earned his Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics at Purdue University, where he later became a faculty member and today holds a distinguished professorship. The 2009 Norman Borlaug Lecture and part of the World Affairs Series.

A reception and student poster display will precede the lecture from 7 to 8 p.m. in the South Ballroom, Memorial Union. Posters will address world food issues and are submitted by undergraduate and graduate students. The competition is funded by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Human Sciences, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.