2009 World Food Prize Winner

The Agronomy, Crop and Soil Societies are holding their annual meetings through Thursday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh with over 3000 participants and the latest research in each field.

Gebisa Ejeta grew up in rural Ethiopia and is now a professor of plant breeding and genetics at Purdue University. In June he won the 2009 World Food Prize for his work in developing sorghum hybrids that resist both drought and parasitic weeds—dramatically improving crop yields.

Ejeta says in Africa, sorghum is crucial to people living in the dry lands where rice, maize, wheat and corn cannot grow. It is used to make bread, porridge, and can be popped like popcorn. It yields both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The leaves provide fodder for animals, and the stalks are used to make huts and fences.

Ejeta is recognized not only for his scientific successes but for making them available to African farmers to improve their nutrition and their economic conditions.