The laureate of the 2010 International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) Norman Borlaug Award for excellence in crop nutrition knowledge transfer is Dr. Jiyun Jin of the Soil and Fertilizer Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Since 1985, Dr. Jin has been working on ways to improve soil fertility and fertilizer management practices in order to increase crop productivity and farmers’ incomes in China. He is currently professor of Plant Nutrition and Fertilization at CAAS, president of the Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Sciences, and director of the China Program of the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI).
Much of Dr. Jin’s work has been devoted to developing knowledge transfer tools that can be used to pass the results of laboratory research on to farmers. The technologies developed by Dr. Jin have been widely disseminated through field demonstrations, farmers’ meetings, field inspection activities, brochures, leaflets, videos, TV, radio, posters, and web sites. A television series on soil fertility management techniques developed by Dr. Jin was distributed through the China Central Agricultural Broadcasting School and CCTV agricultural channel. It is estimated that more than 400 million farmers are being influenced by these activities in support of technology transfer.
Dr. Jin is the 19th recipient of the award, and the fourth Chinese national. He was nominated by Sinofert and selected by an independent jury. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1985 with a PhD in soil science. He also received an M.S. in plant nutrition from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Jin will accept the award at the opening session of the IFA annual conference June 1 in Paris.