Gurdev Khush

Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush (born in 1935) is an Indian agronomist. Along with his mentor, Dr. Henry Beachell, he received the 1996 World Food Prize for their unparalleled achievements in enlarging and improving the supply of rice, one of the world’s largest food crops, during a time of exponential population increases. For this work, Dr. Khush has been called "a hero of the Green Revolution."

Education and career

By the time he was 25, Dr. Khush had already received a Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture at the Punjab Agricultural University in India, as well as a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California, Davis in the US. After several years at UC Davis researching genetics of tomatoes, Dr. Khush moved on to the International Rice Research Institute plant breeding department in 1967, where he worked with Dr. Beachell. In less than five years, he became head of IRRI's plant breeding department and was well on his way to developing his own new varieties of "miracle rice" based on Dr. Beachell’s IR8.

Breakthrough rice varieties

Cross-breeding IR8 with 13 parent varieties from six nations, Dr. Khush developed IR36, a semi-dwarf variety that proved highly resistant to a number of the major insect pests and diseases that drove down farmers’ rice yields and raised prices of the staple food for Asian families. IR36 matures rapidly – 105 days compared to 130 days for IR8 and 150-170 days for traditional types – and produces the slender grain preferred in many countries. The combination of these characteristics soon made IR36 one of the most widely planted food crop varieties the world has ever known. About 110,000 km² were planted with IR36 worldwide in the 1980s, a success which Dr. Khush topped with IR64 and again with IR72 in 1990.

In pursuit of ever-improved rice varieties to nourish the growing developing world and support its agricultural economies, Dr. Khush continued to direct and participate in genetic research and breeding at IRRI and played a key role in the development of more than 300 rice strains until his retirement in 2002, when he returned to UC-Davis.

Since then, he has maintained ties with the Institute as a consultant in the development of the New Plant Type (NPT), which could yield up to 12 tons of rice per hectare in irrigated tropical conditions. He also has served as consultant to rice improvement programs in 15 countries and continues to consult for various research programs to increase productivity of food crops.

International recognition and awards

His expertise has been sought by the governments of India, where he sits on the Department of Biotechnology’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and China, where he is a member of the Science Council of the National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetics Improvement. He is also a member of the Science and Development Network’s Advisory Panel and the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board.

In addition to being named a World Food Prize Laureate, Dr. Khush won the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 2000. He has also received honorary doctorates from eight universities, including one in 2000 from Cambridge University; he has been inducted into national academies in countries including China, India, Russia and the United States; and he has been honored by fifteen other nations across the globe.