‘ I Haven ’t Forgotten Where I Came From, ’ says Yvonne Pinto, Incoming IRRI Chief

Yvonne Pinto, the incoming Director General of the International Rice Research Institute, at the 5th All Africa Horticulture Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, February 26 to March 1, 2024. Credit: Supplied by Yvonne Pinto By Neena BhandariSYDNEY, Feb 28 2024 (IPS) Growing up on a small farming station in Holetta (Ethiopia), Yvonne Pinto would accompany her agriculturist father to the farm, where she would spend her time cross-fertilizing plants. Her tiny fingers making the task easier, as she would marvel at the end product of a prospective new and higher yielding variety. These formative years laid the foundation for her career in agricultural science. Ethiopia in the late 1970s and 1980s was ravaged by a terrible famine, drought, civil war, and international conflict. It became clear to Pinto from the outset that such exigencies could rapidly deteriorate everyday life and the absence of food could decimate a population. These events instilled in her a deep appreciation for the role agriculture and food systems play in human survival. “I haven’t forgotten where I came from,” says Pinto, the incoming Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). A second-generation Kenyan by birth, she feels privileged to have been brought up in Ethiopia, a country that was never colonized and where she felt fortunate to grow up as an equal, a rare experience then. The small farming station in Holetta, about an hour’s drive from the Ethiopian capital Ad...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Development & Aid Editors' Choice Environment Featured Food and Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition Food Sustainability Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies Middle East & North Africa S Source Type: news