Distinguished soil scientist Dr. Pedro Antonio Sanchez is the 2002 World Food Prize recipient for his groundbreaking contributions to reducing hunger and malnutrition throughout the developing world by transforming depleted tropical soils into productive agricultural lands.

A native of Havana, Cuba, Dr. Sanchez was born on October 7, 1940. He was raised on a farm, and exposed to the fertilizer business at an early age. He obtained his elementary and secondary education from Havana’s Colegio de la Salle. He then studied at Cornell University, where he received his BS in Agronomy (1962), MS in Soil Science (1964), and PhD in Soil Science (1968) degrees. During his PhD studies he worked as a soil fertility professor for the University of the Philippines-Cornell Graduate Education Program, and at the same time did his PhD research at the International Rice Research Institute.

After his PhD, he joined the faculty of North Carolina State University in 1968 and served as the leader of the North Carolina State University Rice Research Program of Peru in the 1970s. In this program, Dr. Sanchez helped guide Peru to dramatically improve its national food security, achieving self-sufficiency in rice production within three years, and achieving among the highest rice yields in the world. As leader of the Tropical Soils Program of North Carolina State University (1971-1976), Dr. Sanchez developed a comprehensive approach to soil management which enabled 30 million hectares of marginal Brazilian land, known as the Cerrado, to be brought into production – the single largest increase in arable agricultural land in the last half-century. Next, he brought the Green Revolution to Africa when he served as Director General of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) based in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1991-2001. He developed means to replenish crucial nutrients in exhausted soils, through the development and promotion of agroforestry.

Currently, Dr. Sanchez is the Director of Tropical Agriculture and Senior Research Scholar at the Earth Institute of Columbia University in New York City, and the Co-Chair of the Hunger Task Force of the United Nations Millennium Project. He also serves as Professor Emeritus of Soil Science and Forestry at North Carolina State University.

Aside from being a World Food Prize laureate, Dr. Sanchez received several honors and awards, including the International Soil Science Award from the Soil Science Society of America (1993), and the International Service in Agronomy Award from American Society of Agronomy (1993). He was also elected Chairman of the Soil Fertlity and Plant Nutrition Commision of the International Society of Soil Science (1994) and received decorations from the governments of Colombia and Peru. In 2001, the Catholic University of Leuven of Belgium awarded him a Doctor Honoris Causa degree; he was also anointed a Luo Elder with the name of Odera Kang'o by the Luo community of Western Kenya, in recognition for his assistance in eliminating hunger from many villages in the region. He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America.

Dr. Sanchez is the author of the top 10 best-selling book in soil science worldwide- Properties and Management of Soils of the Tropics. He has authored over 200 scientific publications.

http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu

http://www.worldfoodprize.org/
Laureates/Past/2002.htm
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/
tropag/about/bios/sanchez_p.html

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