Israeli Scientist Dr. Daniel Hillel Receives the 2012 World Food Prize

A few weeks ago, the State Department presented this year's World Food Prize to Israeli scientist Dr. Daniel Hillel for creating and introducing a radically new way of watering crops in arid and dry-land regions. This new technique known as "micro-irrigation" applies water in short periodic flooding episodes in order to moisten the soil. It then involves longer periods of drying out the soil once the flooding stage is complete. By applying water in this way, crops are watered directly at their roots in small but continuous amounts, resulting in plant production and water conservation drastically increasing.

Dr. Hillel's innovative irrigation technique has been introduced to over 30 countries, including many countries in Africa. When announcing Dr. Hillel as the award recipient, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton explained just how important improving food production is to human security both on the African continent and throughout the rest of the world.

"Nearly one billion people already go to bed hungry. The world will need to produce 60% more food in order to feed the global population." Madame Secretary later adds, "The Green Revolution saved up to one billion people. It's up to us to save the next billion."

We congratulate Dr. Hillel for his groundbreaking research and for being the recipient of the 2012 World Food Prize, and look forward to seeing how it impacts food production in Africa in the future.

How do you think micro-irrigation will change the African agriculture sector? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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