Indian Agricultural Economist and former Director of CIMMYT’s Economics Program, Prabhu Pingali, was among 72 new members and 18 foreign associates inducted into the United States National Academy of Sciences this week, in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in research.
Pingali has devoted his entire career to research agriculture in developing countries. His research and advisory work has focused on technological change, environmental externalities, and agricultural development policy. Currently Director of FAO’s Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Pingali has confirmed that hunger reduction is a prerequisite for fast development and poverty reduction: “Hungry people cannot take full advantage of a pro-poor development strategy….for each year that goes by without reducing hunger, developing countries suffer a total loss of about 500 billion US dollars in terms of lifetime earnings foregone…. Investment in hunger reduction…has a potential for generating high economic rates of return.”
Climate adaptation and mitigation 