World Food Prize 2014 to India-born scientist Sanjaya Rajaram

June 19, 2014

Sanjaya Rajaram, an India-born plant scientist, has been chosen for the World Food Prize 2014 for scientific research that led to a stupendous increase in world wheat production.
However, farm activists in the country criticised the prize as mere a public relations stunt by big agri-food companies who fund it.
Sanjaya Rajaram, a citizen of Mexico, took over Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug as head of the wheat breeding program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, where he worked for 33 years. The World Food Prize acknowledges his contribution to the breeding technologies which have made significant impact in providing more nutritious food around the world and assuaging world hunger.
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
Commonly called by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT (Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo) is a non-profit research and training institution dedicated to both the development of improved varieties of wheat and maize, and introducing better agricultural practices to farmers, thus bettering their livelihoods.
CIMMYT is one of the 15 non-profit, research and training institutions affiliated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

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