Dr. B.B. Singh was a World Food Prize nominee, AAAS Fellow, plant breeder, teacher, author,
and humanitarian whose work helped transform cowpea into a major food legume for the tropics.
He developed short-duration, high-yielding cowpea varieties released in more than 45 countries,
authored about 245 scientific publications, and dedicated his career to improving food security,
nutrition, and farmer livelihoods across Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
The Scientist
Dr. Bir Bahadur “B.B.” Singh was a World Food Prize nominee
and AAAS Fellow whose life’s work helped make cowpea one of the
world’s most important food legumes. Trained at
G.B. Pant University and the
University of Illinois, he devoted
his career to developing short-duration, protein-rich legumes that could fit into cereal-based
farming systems and improve food security, nutrition, and farmer income.
At the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture,
G.B. Pant University, and
Texas A&M University, Dr. Singh
worked on cowpea, soybean, and pigeonpea improvement. His breeding emphasized early maturity, high
yield, nutritional quality, and resistance to drought, diseases, insect pests, and parasitic weeds
such as Striga and Alectra. His work helped farmers grow legumes in the short
windows between wheat, rice, maize, and other cereal crops.
Seeds Across Continents
Dr. Singh developed more than 40 high-yielding cowpea varieties with
60–70 day maturity that were released in
more than 45 countries. These varieties contributed to the global rise
of cowpea production from about 1 million tons in 1980 to more than 7 million
tons by 2014. He also developed the early pigeonpea variety UPAS-120 in India and helped
establish systematic soybean breeding in India, contributing to the expansion of soybean as a
protein-rich crop.
A Scientific Legacy
Over his lifetime, Dr. Singh authored or coauthored
approximately 245 scientific publications and wrote
Cowpea: The Food Legume of the 21st Century, a major synthesis of cowpea breeding,
production, nutrition, and use. His scientific legacy includes not only published research, but
also improved seeds in farmers’ fields, trained students and breeders across continents, and
practical crop systems that helped families produce more food from the same land.
Dr. Singh was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
recognized by the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, the Indian
Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CGIAR, and other institutions. He was nominated for the
World Food Prize in recognition of his contributions to global food
security. In 2023, he received the
inaugural Shin Humanitarian Award from the University of Illinois System
for his humanitarian impact through agricultural science.
His work joined science with service.
Through cowpea, soybean, and pigeonpea, Dr. B.B. Singh helped close the protein gap for millions of
people and left behind a legacy of knowledge, resilience, and hope.
