World Food Prize Laureate Heads Global Food Security Center

 WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — Purdue University scientist Gebisa Ejeta is known in agriculture for enhancing sorghum¹ crops in Africa.  The 2009 World Food Prize Laureate is on a quest to help the world better understand the causes of global food insecurity as the world population increases.

Gebisa Ejeta’s air conditioned office at Purdue University is a world away from the one-room thatched hut with mud floors where he grew up in Ethiopia.

“There wasn’t any school in the community where I grew up, said the World Food Prize laureate. "And when my parents particularly my mother decided² to send me to school, the only school was about 20 kilometers, about 12 miles from home.”

Even though his village - Wollonkomi - is not on most maps, it was a place that reinforced the importance of agriculture for Ejeta.

“Because that’s the primary way of life," he said.  "There isn’t any other alternative.  But agriculture is also important globally because it’s the most fundamental need of humanity.”

That fundamental need is increasing as the growing world population demands a more varied³ diet, something Ejeta learned after he left his village to study agriculture. He came to the U.S. where he earned a doctorate⁴ in plant studies at Purdue University, which he put to use in his first project in the field - developing a sorghum grain hybrid⁵ in sub-Saharan Africa. “That hybrid was highly productive and drought tolerant, and made a huge difference in the lives of people there,” said Ejeta.

The hybrid led to a crop that farmers could depend on, and earned Ejeta the World Food Prize, which aided his quest to change perceptions about food.

That quest led to the creation last year of Purdue University’s Global Food Security Center, which Ejeta heads.  The center helps universities and organizations around the world better understand agricultural production. “It’s an enormous challenge," said Gary Burniske, managing direct of the center.

Burniske says the biggest challenge is securing funding. “Over the past 20 years, there’s been a substantial decline in investment in agriculture and issues that relate to agricultural and livestock⁶ production.  And so what we have come to realize particularly with the 2006-2008 food crisis that we need to seriously address food security issues now in order to guarantee food security in 10, 20, or 30 years,” he said.

Ejeta says he hopes students who learn through programs coordinated⁷ by the center will fight against hunger.

“Resources of water, resources of land are getting to be more and more of a problem, so we want to develop education so that our students - the next generations of Americans - understand the complexities⁸ of global food security,” he said.

That security is threatened as fertilizer and fuel costs soar, and more people try to grow food on less land with restricted access to water.

1 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

4 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

5 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

6 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

7 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 complexities   

复杂性(complexity的名词复数)； 复杂的事物

参考例句：

• The complexities of life bothered him. 生活的复杂使他困惑。
• The complexities of life bothered me. 生活的杂乱事儿使我心烦。