Eminent Indian crop scientist wins World Food Prize

NEW DELHI: Sanjaya Rajaram, an eminent Indian scientist, has been awarded the World Food Prize in recognition of his significant contributions to global wheat production.

Sanjaya Rajaram, currently a Senior Scientific Advisor at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), has developed some 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries across six continents and an estimated 58 million hectares.

His wheat improvement research has helped secure a 1.3 per cent rise in global wheat production per annum in the last four decades, an official release said.

Originally from a small farming community in Uttar Pradesh, Rajaram spent much of this early career at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) where he served as Director of the Wheat Breeding Program, working for many years alongside the eminent crop scientist Norman E. Borlaug, the 'Father of the Green Revolution'.

The World Food Prize, presented at the 2014 Borlaug Dialogue, currently being held in Des Moines, United States, from October 15-17, is the foremost international award recognising individuals whose achievements have advanced human development by increasing the quality, quantity, or availability of food.