World Food Prize Ambassador Quinn
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THE ARCHIVE OF AMBASSADOR KENNETH M. QUINN
FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE MEKONG
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A Foot Soldier in the Green Revolution

244/9/69

Amb. Quinn recalls the “lesson of a lifetime” when new high yielding IR-8 “miracle rice” was introduced in Duc Thanh district. He observed, however, that it was only in the four villages where U.S. aid had already repaired the old French farm-to-market road that farmers utilized the new high yielding seeds. The other four villages without good roads remained unchanged. He explained that these two projects- introducing the rice and upgrading the roads- were occurring at the same time only by chance and not as a result of planning. However, it was the combination of the two that brought dramatic change to the villages, including undermining the Vietcong insurgents and dramatically improving security. He would use this same formula of “roads and rice” to destroy the genocidal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia 30 years later.

© 2024 World Food Prize Ambassador Quinn. All rights reserved.