Celebrating 90 Years – Geneticist M.S. Swaminathan

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan celebrates his 90th birthday today, a man who remains driven by his passionate belief that agricultural biodiversity is key for food and livelihood security.

Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan celebrates his 90th birthday today, a man who remains driven by his passionate belief that agricultural biodiversity is key for food and livelihood security – a passion that has transformed agriculture in his native India as well as across the world.

Speaking in tribute to the importance of his work, M. Ann Tutwiler, Director General, said “Everyone here at Bioversity International would like to wish M.S. Swaminathan a very special 90th birthday. We have enjoyed a close collaboration from the day we first opened our doors in 1974 as the International Board of Plant Genetic Resources. On our 40th birthday last year, we were honoured that M.S. Swaminathan sent us a personal video message (view it above). We look forward to many more years of collaborative working to promote the importance of agricultural biodiversity to nourish people and sustain the planet.”

Known as the ‘Father of the Green Revolution,’ M.S. Swaminathan was inspired to pursue a career in agricultural science after seeing widespread malnutrition in Asia and famines in Bengal and China. His creativity and advanced education in genetics led to his developing a new wheat seed that produced high yields, was disease resistant, and suited Indian growing conditions; his perseverance and persuasive talents convinced the Indian government to support widespread use of the new seeds. The first cultivation with the new wheat saw a harvest three times larger than the previous year’s harvest, setting the country on a new path, away from its ship-to-mouth reliance on foreign grain imports.

As Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, M.S. Swaminathan reorganized India’s agricultural programme, yet helping his home country was just the beginning. His dream is to rid the world of hunger and poverty, and he has devoted his life to this cause. Through the last several decades, Mr. Swaminathan has served as the Director General of the International Rice Research Institute, where he continued his efforts in genetic conservation and improvement, founded and chaired the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), taught young scientists as a professor at various institutions, been elected a Fellow of Royal Society of London, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Italian Academy of Sciences, and has authored over 200 scientific papers and numerous books (most recently In Search of Biohappiness, published in 2011).

Sir Otto Frankel, a genetic scientist who chaired a United Nations Food and Agriculture committee, points to Swaminathan’s “pivotal role” in establishing the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), which was later to become Bioversity International.

World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org/Photo Matthew Jordaan)Emile Frison, former Director General of Bioversity International, in his birthday message, identifies Swaminathan as having “played a pioneering role in drawing the attention of the scientific community and policymakers to the importance of plant genetic resources and their conservation for food security." He also paid tribute to the long-standing partnership between Bioversity International and the MSSRF which has "enjoyed the leadership of Professor Swaminathan in applying the best science on these neglected and underutilized species. Even more importantly, he was inspirational in promoting a pro-poor, pro-women and pro-nature approach to community empowerment for household food security, and I wish him well on this special birthday celebration.”

Mr. Swaminathan has been honoured with numerous awards over the past 90 years, including UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal in 1999, the Honda Award, the Tyler Environment Award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, and the First World Food Prize in 1987. On the latter occasion, the Secretary General of the United Nations extolled, “Dr. Swaminathan is a living legend. His contributions to agricultural science have made an indelible mark on food production in India and elsewhere in the developing world. By any standards, he will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction.” The agriculturalist Dr. Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, graciously credited Dr. Swaminathan as deserving due recognition alongside his own. A grateful India further honoured her pioneering son, conferring in series, the Padma Shri (1967), the Padma Bhushan (1972), and the Padma Vibhushan (1989), which are higher civilian awards in India. (Padma Vibhushan is just next to the highest Indian civil award known as Bharat Ratna.)

For all of his contributions to changing the face of farming across the world, Mr. Swaminathan is not content to rest on his success. “Agriculture,” he contends, “is multidimensional,” comprising food, the economy, and the environment.

Always looking towards the future, Mr. Swaminathan has now become an ambassador for the conservation and use of neglected and underutilized species, to find those with the traits needed for food security, for example, higher levels of micronutrients and resistance to climatic stresses. One of his greatest successes in recent years, was achieved during his tenure as a member of the Indian Parliament (2007-2013) where he worked to include nutritious and resilient minor millets in India’s Food Security Bill, which targets more than 800 million people with publicly financed food distribution. This amendment, which took place in 2013, stimulates the production of highly nutritious and resilient crops, providing an invaluable contribution to climate adaptation and food security, especially in the more marginal areas of India where these crops are integral to local cultural identity as well as food security.

“M.S. Swaminathan’s career,” asserts Dr. Prem Mathur, Regional Director of Bioversity International, “understandably paralleled the growing impact of his scientific and humanitarian genius. Beginning with institutional and governmental positions within India, he quickly achieved greater heights.”

Speaking on the occasion of this birthday celebration, Stefano Padulosi, Senior Scientist, Bioversity International, said: “As we celebrate Swaminathan’s birthday today, we need to pay tribute to his lifelong work as a champion of biodiversity. He is a unique scientist whose charisma, vision and thoughtfulness for the poor and marginalized are unparalleled, and whose life-long dedication to fight hunger and poverty is extraordinary and inspirational to millions of people around the world, including me.”

Yet, as much as Mr. Swaminathan teaches and inspires younger scientists, he claims that “the people to thank for having food on the table are not the scientists; the people to thank are the farmers.” This sincere respect for farmers highlights his ability to serve as a bridge between scientific research and those who benefit from the research.

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Written by Anne Merrill, Princeton University International Internship Program