Modadugu Vijay Gupta

Modadugu Vijay Gupta is a fisheries scientist who has worked for more than 60 years to improve food and nutrition for poor families through fish farming in Asia, the Pacific and Africa. He is often called an architect of the Blue Revolution ^[2]. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of science and engineering, from Telangana ^[1].

Research that doubled yields

Gupta was born on 17 August 1939 ^[2]. He studied at Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University and earned his PhD at the University of Calcutta ^[2]. His research in the early 1970s led to a doubling of output from fish farming and laid the ground for the Blue Revolution ^[2]. He has focused in particular on simple, low-cost fish farming methods that rural women and landless families can use ^[2].

Thirty years abroad

For more than 30 years he worked as a fisheries expert with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the WorldFish Center, overseeing programmes in about 20 countries across Asia, Africa and the Pacific ^[2]. The work raised incomes and food security for millions of rural people and gave many women a stronger say in their households ^[2]. He has advised bodies such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Mekong River Commission, served on the UN Committee on World Food Security’s high-level panel of experts, and advised the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ^[2].

Honours

He received the World Food Prize in 2005 and the first Sunhak Peace Prize in 2015 ^[2]. He has also received the gold medal of the Asian Fisheries Society and honorary doctorates from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and the Central Institute of Fisheries Education ^[2].