- Modadugu Vijay Gupta
- A Pioneer of the Blue Revolution Who Found Alternative Solutions to the Future Food Crisis
- As a fisheries scientist, Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta’s involvement in research spanning a period of five decades across several countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, dramatically increased fish production and laid the foundation for the Blue Revolution.
- As a food resource that can provide high quality animal protein at relatively low-cost, cultured marine products has emerged as a possible solution to address the looming food crisis due to population increase and climate change-induced rise in food prices. Dr. Gupta spent his life developing environment-friendly aquaculture methods and technologies using agriculture wastes and by-products and enthusiastically organized and educated the poor in his methods of aquaculture benefitting small-scale farmers and addressing issues of poverty, nutritional deficiency, and resilience in South and Southeast Asia. Moreover, he taught aquaculture to women with low social status, which led to major improvements in women’s rights and empowerment. Despite threats to his own life, Dr. Gupta devoted himself to research in war-torn conflict areas as well and his efforts to develop low-cost methods of aquaculture have created a possible solution that can overcome the food crises as a result of the anticipated population explosion and impact of climate change.
Addressed the expected future food crisis due to climate change and led the Blue RevolutionThrough field research and development of aquaculture methods and technologies suitable for the climate and environment of South and Southeast Asia, Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta brought about an explosive increase in aquaculture production known to us now as the Blue Revolution. Beginning in the 1960’s, Dr. Gupta had the insight that fish farming, which can provide animal protein at a relatively low cost, would be the key to solving humanity’s future food crisis, and he researched and developed compatible fish species that could thrive in both hot and humid climate and low-lying environment with seasonal floods. Especially from the late 1980’s, he identified fish species such as tilapia and silver barb that could thrive even in the turbid and shallow waters of Bangladesh.
As a result, Bangladesh's annual fish production in 1986, which was only about 170,000 tons when the research started, soared to about 850,000 tons when Dr. Gupta retired in 2004. Since 2000, Dr. Gupta started taking his research beyond Asia and has striven to develop aquaculture methods that can thrive in Africa, the frontline of world hunger.
Brought the miracle of independence and self-sufficiency to the extreme poor through the spread of innovative aquaculture methods
Dr. Gupta is a saint of the South and Southeast Asian poor. Rather than give fish to the poor and hungry, Dr. Gupta taught them how to farm fish cultivating a miracle of independence and self-sufficiency. To address hunger and nutritional deficiency of the extreme poor in South and Southeast Asia, Dr. Gupta developed low-cost, high-efficiency methods of aquaculture and lived with the poor in their community devoting himself to passing on the methods to the poor. As a result, he not only greatly improved the nutritional state of the people living in a vicious cycle of extreme poverty and hunger but also instilled in them the hope for a better life.
In the 1970’s, India was focused on developing high-end, high cost aquaculture methods such as shrimp farming. However, during this period Dr. Gupta’s focused on researching aquaculture methods for the extreme poor and marginal farmers. He developed methods such as fish polyculture, which is the culturing of a diversified mix of fish species in one pond, and integrated aquaculture-agriculture, which combines aquaculture and agriculture in an eco-friendly way.
Furthermore, Dr. Gupta built partnerships with local communities and worked tirelessly to teach his methods to the poor. Starting with small groups of 5~10 landless poor farmers each, he motivated them and taught them aquaculture skills. Afterwards, Dr. Gupta helped create a basis for the farmers’ economic independence through fish farming in leased ponds with unconditional financial support for the start-up costs for fish farming.
Significantly improved the social status and rights of Asian women
Dr. Gupta spread aquaculture methods to South and Southeast Asian women who held low social status, which resulted in not only increased household incomes and better nutrition but also drastic improvement in the women's social status and rights. Recognizing that some women in South and Southeast Asian countries have no income because they do not participate in economic activities and have lower social status than men, Dr. Gupta created opportunities for women to participate in economic activities. He personally persuaded religious leaders who were negative towards women’s participation in society to allow women to participate and motivated poor women farmers to become self-sufficient and educated them on the basic skills required for aquaculture.
In addition, Dr. Gupta cooperated with local organizations so that women could receive the funding and land necessary for their economic activities. These initiatives were such a great success that now women form a considerable part of the fish farming work force, and this has brought positive changes that have improved women’s rights and status both within the household and in society.
“For eliminating hunger and malnutrition, we need a new approach of inclusive and sustainable growth that provides livelihood to all and preserves the environment for future generations, leading to a peaceful world.
Over 500 million small farms manage most of the world’s agriculture land, including fish farming, and produce most of the world’s food. We cannot imagine a situation without them. We need to ensure survival of these farms not just for the people's livelihood and survival, but also for global food security and the alleviation of poverty, under-nourishment and malnutrition.”Acceptance Speech
Madam Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, founder of the Sunhak Peace Prize, Dr. Il Sik Hong, Chair of the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee, Excellencies, honorable delegates, media representatives, ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning.
I feel it an honour and privilege to be selected for the first Sunhak Peace Prize. I am glad that the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee recognizes the importance of food security, environmental integrity and overall socioeconomic development as essential pre-requisites for a peaceful society. This becomes much more important in the present context of increasing global population leading to more demand for food from declining natural resources and the looming impact of global warming threatening the fragile ecosystem and lives and livelihood of large number of people if appropriate actions are not taken. I thank Madam Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon for her vision in establishing this award and reminding the global community of the need to act fast for a food secure and peaceful world.
I owe gratitude to a great number of people – the farming community, NGOs, scientists, planners and administrators in different countries where I worked without whose assistance and cooperation it would not have been possible for me to do what I have done. I would be failing in my responsibilities as a husband and father if I do not acknowledge the sacrifices my wife and children have made over the years to enable me to continue my work while living and working in remote areas of least developed and war torn countries in spite of threats to our lives.
The world has made tremendous progress technologically in the last few decades, whether it is in industrial revolution, information technology, rocket technology, space science or agriculture. However, we failed to provide sufficient food to people in this world; because of which we see so much hunger and poverty around the world which is leading to civil strife and food riots. One in three people globally suffer from hidden hunger or micronutrient deficiencies, especially women and children. We have been talking of eliminating hunger and poverty for quite some time, but we have a long way to go to reach our goal. In spite of increased production of food, hunger has remained as a persistent problem for too many of the world’s poor. Rampant hunger and poverty is leading to a deterioration in democratic institutions and an increase in the incidence of demonstrations, riots and civil conflicts. Personally I have witnessed what hunger means while working in war ravaged countries. Even middle-income countries, despite being more affluent, are still home to majority of world’s hungry people. We cannot expect peace and tranquility in a world that continues to suffer from hunger and poverty. If appropriate action is not taken, prolonged hunger and undernutrition can have developmental and economic damage for a number of years to come.
For eliminating hunger and malnutrition, we need a new approach of inclusive and sustainable growth that provides livelihood to all and preserves the environment for future generations, leading to a peaceful world. Over 500 million small farms manage most of the world’s agriculture land, including fish farming, and produce most of the world’s food. We cannot imagine a situation without them. We need to ensure survival of these farms not just for the people's livelihood and survival, but also for global food security and the alleviation of poverty, under-nourishment and malnutrition. I strongly believe that small farms and farmers in developing countries are the backbone of food security and hence my work over the years has been in this direction, developing low-input, low-cost technologies that could be adopted and sustained by small aquaculture farmers, especially women leading to their empowerment.
This award gives me the added energy to pursue my lifetime goals of contributing toward a peaceful society through alleviation of hunger and poverty.
I pay homage to Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon for the ideals he stood for and his vision of one global peaceful family. Let us all work together to bring his ideals to reality.
Thank you all.
Remark Upon Announcement
“My lifetime goal of contributing for a peaceful society through alleviation of hunger and poverty”
I feel it an honour and privilege to be selected for the first Sunhak Peace Prize.
Peace whether it be at the family level or national level cannot be achieved on a hungry stomach. I am glad that the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee recognizes the importance of food security, environmental integrity and overall socioeconomic development as essential pre-requisites for a peaceful society and acknowledges individuals that have contributed to this goal. This becomes much more important in the present context of increasing global population leading to more demand for food from declining natural resources and the looming impact of global warming threatening the fragile ecosystem if appropriate actions are not taken.
This award gives me added energy to pursue my lifetime goal of contributing toward a peaceful society through alleviation of hunger and poverty. I am grateful to all those in different parts of the world who helped me in my work.
June 8, 2015
Modadugu Vijay Gupta
.jpg)
Modadugu Vijay Gupta
.jpg)
