The 2014 World Food Prize was presented to Sanjaya Rajaram, Ph.D., on Oct. 16, at the World Food Day. Rajaram was selected for his scientific research that has led to an impressive increase in world wheat production, building upon the success of his former esteemed mentor and colleague Norman Borlaug, Ph.D., and the Green Revolution.
Rajaram is the first wheat scientist honored with the World Food Prize.
Rajaram succeeded Borlaug in leading Mexico’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) wheat breeding program and developed an astounding 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries on six continents. He built upon Borlaug’s shuttle breeding approach, which reduces the time period to develop varieties by using growing seasons in both the northern and southern hemisphere. Additionally, Rajaram was instrumental in improving the exchange of genetic material between wheat breeders around the world, making the improved genetics more readily accessible to small farmers.
The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by Borlaug who realized there should be an esteemed, international award to honor agricultural scientists working to end hunger. The prize is an annual $250,000 award often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.”
Since 1986, the award has been given to recipients from all over the globe recognized for a wide range of work in areas including soil and land; plant and animal science; food science and technology; nutrition; rural development; marketing; food processing and packaging; water and the environment; natural resource conservation; physical infrastructure; transportation and distribution; special or extraordinary feeding programs; social organization and poverty elimination; economics and finance; policy analysis; and public advocacy.
In 2007, Borlaug said Rajaram was “the greatest present-day wheat scientist in the world” and a “scientist of great vision.”
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