By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281Source(s):
Pedro Sanchez Sanchez@iri.columbia.edu, 845-365-8330
E.T. York ETYork@fpo.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-6545
Don Poucher info@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-0437
GAINESVILLE, FLA.—Pedro A. Sanchez, the 2002 World Food Prize Laureate and recipient of the 2003 MacArthur Fellowship, will be the featured speaker Nov. 13 in the 2003 E.T.York Distinguished Lecturer Series at the University of Florida.
Sanchez, who is director of tropical agriculture and senior research scholar at the Earth Institute of Columbia University in New York City, will discuss what needs to be done to end hunger in Africa. He will speak at 10:30 a.m. in the Rion Ballroom of the UF Reitz Union. The lecture, sponsored by UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is free and open to the public.
In addition to his post at Columbia University, Sanchez serves as co-coordinator of the Hunger Task Force of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Project. He served as director general of the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1991 to 2001. He is also professor emeritus of soil science and forestry at North Carolina State University, and he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
A native of Cuba, Sanchez received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Cornell University, and he joined the faculty of North Carolina State University in 1968. His professional career has been dedicated to improving the management of tropical soils through integrated natural resource management approaches to achieve food security and reduce rural poverty while protecting and enhancing the environment.
Sanchez has lived in the Philippines where he worked at the International Rice Research Institute, Peru where he worked at the National Research Institutes, Colombia where he worked at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, and in Kenya.
He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications, including Properties and Management of Soils of the Tropics, which is rated among the top 10 best-selling books in soil science worldwide. He is currently writing the second edition of the book.
Sanchez is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. He has received decorations from the governments of Colombia and Peru, and was awarded the International Soil Science Award and the International Service in Agronomy Award.
In February 2001, the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, awarded him a Doctor Honoris Causa degree for his work on tropical soils in Africa. In August 2001, Sanchez was anointed a Luo Elder with the name of Odera Kang’o by the Luo community of western Kenya, in recognition for his assistance in eliminating hunger from many villages in the region.
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