Hope against hunger

Editor:

I was at Norman Borlaug’s presentation and I found it both stimulating and hopeful.

I work with the government of Tanzania in East Africa, trying to help develop their agriculture sector away from the traditional hand hoe and into more modern techniques so that they can achieve food security. I am constantly bumping into those who want to keep the status quo and traditional farming alive there (mostly from some well-fed and well-meaning American who doesn’t realize how many women and children go hungry and even starve from these traditional methods.)

Borlaug’s analogy of the zebra and the wildebeest disappearing from the Serengeti like our vast wild herds disappearing from our Central Plains was a real eye opener to me; I had thought they would always be there, but Borlaug made me realize that like our wild herds, these could disappear also and for the same reasons.

I have always been inclined to believe that Africa has the potential to feed all her people, and Borlaug gave me the hope to know that it is possible. It was a great day and one that pumped me up and motivated me to get back to Africa and get my hands in the dirt. There is hope for the world.

Karl F. Gingrich

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