During a ceremony at the U.S. State Department last week, the 2016 World Food Prize Laureates were announced by USAID Administrator Gayle Smith, remarking that “these four extraordinary World Food Prize Laureates have proven that science matters, and that when matched with dedication, it can change people’s lives.” Drs. Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga, Jan Low and Howarth Bouis were awarded the World Food Prize in recognition of their achievements in the area of countering world hunger and malnutrition through biofortification, the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops.
The World Food Prize is the most prominent global award for individuals whose breakthrough achievements alleviate hunger and promote global food security. This year’s $250,000 prize will be divided equally between the four recipients.
Three of the 2016 laureates -- Dr. Maria Andrade, Dr. Robert Mwanga and Dr. Jan Low of the International Potato Center (CIP), which has had sweetpotato in its research mandate since 1988 -- are being honored for their work developing the single most successful example of biofortification -- the orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP). Dr. Andrade and Dr. Mwanga, plant scientists in Mozambique and Uganda, bred the Vitamin A-enriched OFSP using genetic material from CIP and other sources, while Dr. Low structured the nutrition studies and programs that convinced almost two million households in 10 separate African countries to plant, purchase and consume this nutritionally fortified food.
Dr. Howarth Bouis, the founder of HarvestPlus at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), over a 25-year period pioneered the implementation of a multi-institutional approach to biofortificatoin as a global plant breeding strategy. As a result of his leadership, crops such as iron and zinc fortified beans, rice, wheat and pearl millet, along with Vitamin A-enriched cassava, maize and OFSP are being tested or released in over 40 countries.
To read the full story, visit the World Food Prize website.
To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug establishing the Prize, the World Food Prize Foundation will convene in October 2016 an array of international leaders, policy makers, farmers, executives from agribusiness and non-governmental organizations, and scientific, academic and development experts to address the most critical issues facing global food security.
The title of the 2016 Borlaug Dialogue will be "Let Food Be They Medicine," a quote attributed to Hippocrates approximately 2,400 years ago, to reflect the achievements in biofortification for which the 2016 World Food Prize laureates are being honored.
For more information on the Conference, click here.
Photo credit: World Food Prize