Remembering Michael Blümmel

The very sad news of Michael’s passing left us shocked in Addis Ababa today. We are deeply saddened and cannot find the right words to express how we feel. We all thought that he will be back from Germany soon to continue the work which he was so passionate about. We enjoyed working with him in various projects. We will carry memories of his hard work and deep knowledge in food-feed research. We say thank you for his innovative ideas, mentorship and immense contributions to the scientific world. He will be dearly missed by colleagues and the partners across the globe.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends. We pray that God will comfort them at this sad time. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

I have known Michael since 2001 when we were both were scientists at ILRI working on the improvement of feed quality of crop residues, the dominant feed for livestock in the developing tropics. From that time until his illness his passion for his work remained a constant—as was the diligence with which he ensured that his work benefitted small holder farmers. His legacy will be the in the conversion of legions of reluctant crop breeders who saw ‘grains’ solely as the target of their breeding programs, into advocates of breeding for improved feed value as well. We will miss Michael not only for his scientific contributions but for the calm and caring human being he was.

Michael was not only a brilliant mind with a meticulous eye for detail, he also had the uncanny ability to translate his research into real world outcomes that impacted people’s lives. He was generous with his time, committed to supporting the learning and development of those around him. We have lost a fantastic colleague and a good friend.

Dr Michael Blummel was a great and true scientist who contributed to ILRI’s feed science in so many ways. His contribution to India is beyond parallels. Michael’s work in India spanned for about three decades. During this period he tirelessly worked to bring together crop and animal scientists of national and international centres for multi-purpose crop improvement. He challenged the conventional fodder development approach and worked on improvement of crop residues with the support of spectroscopic tools. His recent work on deconstruction of ligno-cellulose for converting roughages into concentrates is a pathbreaking venture, which he left for others to complete. It can be declared without doubt that he created a vacuum, which others can’t easily fill.