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May 4, 1999 PINSTRUP-ANDERSEN RECEIVES AN HONORARY DOCTORATE FROM INDIA'S TAMIL NADU VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITYFor more information, contact: Don LippincottWASHINGTON, D.C. -- Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C., has received an honorary doctor of science degree from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in India. The degree, which was awarded at an April 22 ceremony in Chennai, India, was presented to Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen for the critical role he has played in global food security, said Dr. R. Prabaharan, the university's vice chancellor. "It is a great honor and pleasure for me to receive the honorary degree of doctor of science from this outstanding university," said Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen in accepting the degree. "The mandate of this university is at the heart of solving future food problems. The demand for livestock products is increasing rapidly, particularly in fast-growing, low-income developing countries." Established in 1989, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University is exclusively devoted to veterinary, animal, and fisheries sciences in India's southeastern state of Tamil Nadu. "Building on its almost 100 years of experience, the university was established in 1903 as the Madras Veterinary, and has since evolved into an important and dynamic center for teaching, research, and extension," said Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen. In bestowing the degree, Vice Chancellor Prabaharan noted Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen's long involvement in Indian agricultural development. His work in India in the 1980s highlighted the importance of livestock development in solving the problems of household food insecurity and malnutrition. In 1982, his study of the impact of Green Revolution technologies on food consumption and nutrition in rural Tamil Nadu concluded that the improved varieties of rice increased household calorie consumption by a third. This encouraged India to increase its investment in agricultural research as a tool for reducing national food insecurity and malnutrition. As the chief architect of IFPRI's 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen has gained worldwide recognition as a world leader in research and communications related to food and agricultural problems of the developing world. Based on this work, Indian agricultural scientists have developed a Vision for Food and Agriculture for the Year 2020, which the Indian government is using to develop national agricultural plans. A native of Denmark, Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen is a former director of the Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program and professor of food economics at Cornell University. Before his teaching and research positions at Cornell, he served as an agricultural economist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia and director of the Agro-Economic Division at the International Fertilizer Development Center in the United States. Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark and master's and doctoral degrees in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University. He joined IFPRI as its director general in 1992 and has published widely on important global food and agricultural policy issues.
IFPRI is a Washington, D.C.-based, internationally funded organization established in 1975 to identify and analyze policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world. IFPRI conducts research on ways to achieve sustainable food production and optimize land use, improve food consumption and income levels of the poor, enhance the efficiency of markets and links between agriculture and other sectors of the economy, and improve trade and macroeconomic conditions. |
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