M. S. Swaminathan

"Agriculture is the backbone of the livelihood security system of nearly 700 million people in the country and we need to build our food security on the foundation of home grown food."

"Let me make it very clear that the days of cheap food are over, just as the days of cheap oil are over"

"When you take up lab-to-land transfer, you should know the socio-economic circumstances of the farmer. You should not do experiments with the farmer, because he is already poor. You must be very sure that whatever you are recommending is both economically and ecologically sound. If farm economics and farm ecology go wrong, nothing else can go right in agriculture."

"So there is a big transformation. Also if you see the average lifespan, which was 28–29 in 1947, is now 64–65. In Kerala it is 74 or so. I am sure soon it will become 80–90. That is partly also because of food, because without nutrition, it is not possible. So we have had a transformation in our economic wellbeing. But that is not spread evenly in society; there are still very poor people, the highly deprived. In my view, the first task of both science and society is to address this issue"

"I followed Swami Vivekananda's teachings when I was young. He said, this life is short, its vanities are transient. He alone lives who lives for others. I think more than any other country, in our country, this is very important today. ‘Others’ also includes family members, because charity begins at home. But if you are an educated person, do something which can help improve the lives and livelihoods of your fellow people. And then towards the latter part of your life, you feel more satisfied that you have one something not only for yourself or for your family, but you have done something which has made a slight difference in the lives of the less privileged."

"The right to food has to become the right to good food"

"Eternal vigilance is the price of food security."

"Developing countries can leapfrog several stages in the development process through the application of bio-technology in agriculture"

"The Green Revolution was criticised by social activists on the ground that the high-yield technology involving the use of mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides is environmentally harmful. Similarly, some economists felt that the new technologies would bypass small and marginal farmers, for although the technologies are scale-neutral, they are not resource-neutral. This led to my coining the term “ever-green revolution,” to emphasise the need to enhance productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm."

"Norman Borlaug is the living embodiment of the human quest for a hunger free world. His life is his message.""

"Land and water management should be given ‘Number One' priority for achieving evergreen revolution. No less important is to achieve the utmost efficiency in investment as well as in the use of water."

"The magic happens only when the artist serves with love and the listener receives with the same spirit."

"Dr. Swaminathan is a living legend. His contributions to Agricultural Science have made an indelible mark on food production in India and elsewhere in the developing world. By any standards, he will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction."

"But for [...] his contributions, India today would have been a decimated, depopulated country as prophesied by the American doom-sayers Paddock Brothers!"