Biofortification Pioneers Win 2016 World Food Prize For Fight Against Malnutrition June 29 , 2016
Biofortification Pioneers Win 2016 World Food Prize For Fight Against Malnutrition June 29 , 2016
Drs . Maria Andrade , Robert Mwanga , Jan Low and Howarth Bouis were announced yesterday as the 2016 World Food Prize Laureates during a ceremony at the U . S . State Department . The prize rewards their work in countering world hunger and malnutrition through biofortification , the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops .
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 .
Thanks to the combined efforts of our four Laureates , over 10 million persons are now positively impacted by biofortified crops , with a potential of several hundred million more in the coming decades .
Drs . Andrade , Mwanga , Low and Bouis will receive the World Food Prize at a ceremony that will be held in the magnificent Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines , Iowa , on the evening of October 13 , 2016 . A full biography , photos and more information about the 2016 Laureates is available at www . worldfoodprize . org / 2016Laureate
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