Norman Borlaug RIP

Norman Borlaug, who was often credited for saving over a billion people from starvation died in September 2009 at the age 95. A Norwegian- American, he was also known as the father of the 'green revolution' which transformed agriculture through high-yield
crop varieties and other innovations, helping to more than double the world's food production between 1960 and 1990. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognitions of his conytribution to the world's peace through incresing food supply.

He worked with the governments of Mexico, India and Pakistan to introduce a combination of modern agricultural production techniques and his new high-yield wheat varieties. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in India and Pakistan, greatly improving the food security in the subcontinent.

But Borlaug and the green revolution was also criticized in the later decades for promoting practices that used fertilizer and pesticides, and ficusing on a few high-yield crops that benefited large landowners.