Huntsville, Ala. ---- Dr. Chandra Reddy, professor and former dean of Alabama A&M University’s School of Graduate Studies, has been selected by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to receive the prestigious 2007 George Washington Carver Agricultural Excellence Award.
The award annually honors a scientist/scholar who has had significant impact on International Agriculture. Calvina Dupre, USAID program manager, said Reddy received the award because a technical review panel recognized his significant contributions to improving the lives of people in Africa through sustainable agriculture.
Reddy will receive the award medallion from USAID Administrator Henrietta H. Fore during the White House Initiated National HBCU Week Annual Conference. AAMU will also receive a plaque as the host university of Dr. Reddy’s international development work in the 1980s.
Dr. Reddy was nominated for this award by Dr. James Lowenberg DeBoer, associate dean and director of international programs in agriculture at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. DeBoer called Reddy a pioneer in intercropping systems research in West Africa, where the former developed an improved millet-cowpea intercropping technology that is now known across the Sahel from Chad to Senegal.
His 50-page handbook on “The Strategies for Rainfed Millet and Cowpea Production in Niger” was pioneering and revolutionary in nature and is still widely used. In this publication, Dr. Reddy introduced for the first time, the concept of decision trees that provided flexible production practices as a function of agro-climatic and economic situations.
Reddy also contributed to building agronomic research and extension capacities in the Niger National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAN). He identified promising Nigerian agronomists for long and short term training in the U.S., mentored many of these young scientists upon their return and was the role model for rigorous and relevant agronomic research. He also coordinated the multidisciplinary farming systems research in Niger and brought together many specialists to work on national priorities.
In recognition of his contributions to agricultural development in Africa, the Ministry of Agriculture, Niger, honored him with a Meritorious Service Award. In appreciation of his international and domestic efforts in sustainable agriculture, the American Society of Agronomy in 2006 honored Dr. Reddy with the prestigious Agronomy Fellow award, the highest awards of the society.
As reported by Jerome St. John a year
