Awards

Bir Bahadur Singh received his bachelors in 1963 at Pantnagar University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnager, India. Dr. Singh then came to the University of Illinois in 1965 to receive a masters and PhD. in Plant Breeding and Genetics with a focus on soybeans. Dr. Singh started his career as a faculty member in the department of Plant Breeding at Pantnagar University where he taught courses in genetics and plant breeding. While at the University, he taught students who have became some of the best scientists and managers in India and was rated one of the best teachers in the University. He then went on to work as a Senior Research Officer and National Coordinator for the All India Soybean Research Project.

Dr. Singh later became a Principal Cowpea Breeder from 1989 to 2005 at the IITA Kano Station in Kano, Nigeria. Dr. Singh has been a major contributor to the establishment where he has participated in planning and construction supervision to make it a fully functional research station. Dr. Singh also catalyzed establishment of the Leventis Foundation/Kano State Agricultural Training school in 1998 which imparts one year practical training in farming methods to 80 students from farm families each year.

Dr. Singh has made major contributions through breeding for early maturity and pyramiding genes for resistance to major diseases, nematodes, insect-pests and striga and tolerance to drought and heat. His pigeon pea variety matures in 120 days compared to 180 to 250 days of other varieties. He has developed 6 soybean varieties which are resistant to rust and yellow mosaic with good seed viability. He has developed numerous cowpea varieties of which over 40 have been released in over 60 countries. These improved varieties have the yield potential between 2 to 3 tons per hectare compared to less than 1 of the local varieties.

Dr. Singh has developed and demonstrated a farmer to farmer seed diffusions and community based seed production and sale system which has proved to be very effective model in quickly moving the seeds of improved varieties to farmers. He has also promoted the formation of village associations of men and women farmers, trained Nigerian extension officers, and leveraged funding and assistance from a wide array of Nigerian and international non-governmental organizations. Dr. Singh gained the confidence of male elders in several Hausa villages in Nigeria and worked directly with women who also grow cowpea. Through the use of Dr. Singh’s cowpea technology these family farms have increased their income from the sale of cowpea grain and from goats and sheep which are fed the cowpea fodder. This increased income made it able for woman to pay school and textbook fees for their children, enhanced their household diets through high protein cowpea and diversified and further increased their income through small-scale food processing.