My appa knew the power of women with knowledge: Soumya Swaminathan

“Your appa changed our lives.” Those voices of women farmers I met on Wednesday in a Villupuram village 150km from Chennai have been echoing in my mind. More than 90% of the farmers in that village are women. They were encouraged by my father to start a group for knowledge and resource sharing to increase production. Empowering women in agriculture was one of his biggest passions, and he ensured gender was included as a chapter in the Sixth Planning Commission, along with environment.

He believed that when women were empowered with knowledge, they would care for crops without harming environment, and bulk up yields. A part of it was probably because of my mother Mina Swaminathan. My sisters and I grew up watching him build a remarkable career in crop science and food production. He was our role model. My fascination, though, was more with humans than plants. While I joined the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune, he was helping the country wipe out famine.

He was happy with my career choice probably because he knew that our paths would meet one day. Over the years, we have discussed how agriculture is deeply connected to health. He spoke about globalisation, environmental degradation, and labour loss in the 1970s. His approach towards agriculture was holistic. So, when I was the director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), I connected with my father to bring back the culture of healthy eating among school children.


As a part of our work on intervention strategies to address the problem of undernutrition and hidden hunger, he proposed environmentfriendly genetic gardens of biofortified plants. Today, more health scientists across the globe have realised that it is necessary to work closely with agricultural scientists for prevention of many diseases. Research at the MSSRF focuses on climate-smart agriculture that combines the traditional and modern. My father’s dream was to bring healthy food back on people’s plates. As a doctor, I know this will be a sustainable solution to prevent several diseases.

(As told to Pushpa Narayan)