SECRETARY-GENERAL SALUTES DR. PEDRO SANCHEZ ON RECEIVING 2002 WORLD FOOD PRIZE

SECRETARY-GENERAL SALUTES DR. PEDRO SANCHEZ ON RECEIVING 2002 WORLD FOOD PRIZE

Following is the message issued by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the awarding of the 2002 World Food Prize to Dr. Pedro Sanchez:

I am very pleased that the 2002 World Food Prize has been awarded to Dr. Pedro A. Sanchez, a distinguished soil scientist and the Chair of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on World Hunger.

Through his research in the Cerrado of Brazil, Dr. Sanchez developed ways to revitalize tropical soils which had been considered extremely unproductive, thus greatly expanding Brazil’s agricultural output.  Subsequently, in East Africa, where Dr. Sanchez served as Director-General of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, his innovative approach to restoring nutrients to severely depleted soils resulted in dramatic increases in crop yields, affecting hundreds of thousands of small farmers.  It is clear that Dr. Pedro Sanchez’s achievements offer great promise that the Green Revolution can be spread through Sub-Saharan Africa.  It is particularly fitting that the World Food Prize will be presented to Dr. Sanchez on 24 October, United Nations Day.  Nothing could better reflect the direct connection between Dr. Sanchez’s accomplishments and his new mission on behalf of the Millennium Project of the United Nations.

* *** *