55 years of friendship
In late 2023, the event of Professor Vo Tong Xuan, the first Vietnamese scientist to receive the VinFuture Prize , was good news for the Vietnamese scientific community. Professor Vo Tong Xuan received the special prize for scientists from developing countries, along with Professor Gurdev Singh Khush , a famous Indian-American agronomist and geneticist.
Professor Gurdev Singh Khush and Professor Vo Tong Xuan (second and third from left) jointly received the VinFuture Prize 2023 for scientists from developing countries.
After the award ceremony, the Vietnamese public learned for the first time that the relationship between Professor Vo Tong Xuan and the excellent agronomist who contributed to "saving hunger" for millions of poor people in Asia in the 1960s and 1970s, began more than 50 years ago.
Professor Khush was born in 1935, 5 years older than Professor Vo Tong Xuan. Although he is nearly 90 years old, Professor Gurdev Singh Khush is still agile, active and clear-headed, healthy enough to fly to Vietnam not only to receive the VinFuture Prize 2023 for scientists from developed countries but also to attend activities before and after the award ceremony. As for Professor Vo Tong Xuan, miraculously, he has just overcome the storm of illness, to smile heartily at the award ceremony.
According to Professor Vo Tong Xuan, after joining IRRI (International Rice Research Institute), he began to research rice cultivation technology and rice hybridization, and Professor Khush was the one who guided him. But when recalling the first days of meeting Professor Vo Tong Xuan, Professor Khush introduced himself humbly: "I have cooperated with Mr. Vo Tong Xuan since 1969. At that time, we were friends and also cooperated in research on rice plants."
The journey to rice of two scientists
The paths that led the two scientists to the study of rice were similar in that they both had some twists and turns. After receiving his PhD in genetics from the University of California (Davis, USA) in 1960, Professor Khush stayed there to study tomato genetics for seven years. He joined IRRI in 1967 as a rice breeder, and worked there for 35 years until his retirement in 2002.
Professor Khush said: "I was born into a farming family. The 1960s and 1970s were a time when there was a shortage of food all over the world, especially in Asia. As a country with a very large agricultural area, at that time India had to import 10 million tons of grain each year to provide food for its people. Therefore, the question of what to do to create rice varieties that provide more food for the people, so that they do not go hungry, was the motivation that motivated me to become a researcher to breed good rice varieties."
Professor Gurdev Singh Khush interviewed journalists after the VinFuture Prize 2023 award ceremony
As for Professor Vo Tong Xuan, he had cherished another dream since his childhood. At that time, like many students at Cao Thang Technical School, Xuan wished to study abroad in European and American countries to become a mechanical engineer. However, Xuan's exam score was just enough to receive a scholarship to study abroad at the University of the Philippines (Los Banos, Philippines). But he was still very happy, because his wish was to study any major that was related to the production of wealth to serve his homeland. At the undergraduate level, Xuan chose to study agrochemistry (sugar cane). At the master's level, he planned to continue pursuing agrochemistry, so he chose the research topic of creating pulp from sugarcane bagasse.
At that time, the IRRI Institute was newly established (since 1960, with the support of the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Philippine Government), headquartered in the campus of the Philippine Agricultural University, so he often went there to visit with some agricultural extension officers from Vietnam . They advised him to study about rice, because Vietnam is a rice-growing country, and it is in great need of developing science and technology for the rice industry.
Professor Vo Tong Xuan in Hanoi, during VinFuture Week 2023
"I have an aunt and uncle who are farmers in Binh Chanh (at that time, it was still part of Gia Dinh, Ho Chi Minh City - PV). When I was a student, every summer vacation I often visited my aunt and uncle's house, witnessing their miserable life, I secretly felt sorry for them. The invitation of some Vietnamese brothers and sisters at IRRI revived my memories of my aunt and uncle's house, so I asked to study at IRRI. I thought that my hometown was a rice land, only studying rice was the shortest way to quickly return to serve my homeland. At first, I learned by stealth, but I made so much progress that they invited me to work with them, with a very good salary. I did research there from 1965 to 1971, Professor Khush was my instructor", Professor Vo Tong Xuan recalled.
The man who helped save millions of poor people in Asia
According to Professor Khush, at that time, all of Asia had only one type of long-term rice, the rice plants were very tall and had low yields. Therefore, the risk was very high, greatly affecting the harvest results if the weather was not favorable. Just one heavy rain at the time of harvest could cause the entire rice field to collapse, and the farmer would lose everything. The goal of him and his colleagues at IRRI was to create high-yield, short-term rice varieties.
"Previously, rice plants were 1.5 m tall, but we have created rice varieties that are only 20 - 30 cm tall. The growth time from seed to plant was 5 - 6 months before, and only 2 months after. Thanks to that, instead of growing 1 crop, we can grow 2 - 3 crops/year, increasing productivity by 30%, increasing global rice production. Thanks to that, hunger is pushed back, countries are self-sufficient in food. India has gone from importing 10 million tons of food to exporting rice," Professor Khush shared.
Professor Gurdev Singh Khush and Professor Vo Tong Xuan have been companions in researching rice plants for nearly 55 years.
During his more than 20 years as head of IRRI's plant breeding department, Professor Khush played a key role in the development of more than 300 improved rice varieties. Varieties developed at IRRI are known as IR varieties, which have been widely adopted in many Asian countries. In 2005, it was estimated that 60% of the world's rice area was planted with IRRI hybrids or their offspring. World rice production increased from 257 million tons in 1966 to 626 million tons in 2006, with important contributions from Professor Khush and IRRI scientists.
In 1996, together with Professor Henry Beachell, Professor Khush received the World Food Prize (an award considered the Nobel Prize in agriculture) for his achievements in expanding and improving global rice supplies during a period of exponential population growth.
Among Prof. Khush’s inventions, IR36 is a remarkable achievement. This is a rice variety that was crossbred from IR8 with 13 parent varieties from 6 countries. The outstanding advantage of IR36 is its high resistance to some major insect pests and diseases that reduce rice yield (the main impact of increasing food prices). Thanks to that, IR36 is known as one of the most widely grown food crops in the world.
Spread
In 1971, leaving IRRI to return to Vietnam to work at Can Tho University, later Can Tho University, Professor Xuan brought with him the IR8 and IR5 varieties. When encountering harmful insects (they ate all the rice plants in just 3 days), Professor Xuan wrote to Professor Khush so that Professor Khush could continue researching and creating new rice varieties that were resistant to insects. Just like that, one side invented, the other side applied, protected, and spread the results of the invention. Many people have heard the story of Professor Xuan convincing the leaders of Can Tho University to close the school for 2 months to send students to propagate the IR36 variety that Professor Khush sent to "save the hunger" of the people in the rice granary of the West.
Professor Gurdev Singh Khush and Professor Vo Tong Xuan (second, third from left) at the exchange event with the owner of VinFuture Prize 2023 at VinUni University
The VinFuture Prize Council 2023 honored Professor Gurdev Singh Khush for his important contribution to the invention of disease-resistant rice varieties, and Professor Vo Tong Xuan for his important contribution to the dissemination of disease-resistant rice varieties. Both scientists have contributed to ensuring global food security.
According to Professor Khush, his partnership with Professor Vo Tong Xuan is a proud one. "Our partnership with Mr. Xuan has contributed significantly to Vietnam becoming one of the world's major rice exporters," said Professor Khush, adding: "To me, Mr. Xuan is not only a colleague, but also a friend. A humble, dedicated friend who is wholeheartedly willing to help everyone."
According to Professor Gurdev Singh Khush , both he and Professor Vo Tong Xuan want to use the $500,000 prize money to invest in developing new rice varieties that are more suitable for the environment and climate change. In addition, the two professors will support training and capacity development in agriculture and rice research in Vietnam . The form of support could be through scholarships for high school graduates who are passionate and want to study further in this field.
"We will provide some support to help them get into good schools that train in the agricultural field, from which they can study further (post-university). The goal of the VinFuture Prize is for development, for the future of humanity. Therefore, we really want to use this money to develop the future of rice science in general," said Professor Khush.
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