The World Food Prize Foundation has announced that Dr Mahalingam Govindaraj, senior scientist for crop development at Harvest Plus and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, will receive the 2022 Norman E Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by The Rockefeller Foundation.
Dr Govindaraj is recognised for his outstanding leadership in mainstreaming biofortified crops, particularly pearl millet, in India and Africa. For more than a decade, he has directed the development and dissemination of high-yielding, high-iron and high-zinc pearl millet varieties that have contributed to better nutrition for thousands of farmers and their communities.
In 2014, while working at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Dr Govindaraj released the world’s first biofortified pearl millet, called Dhanashakti. Independent clinical studies showed that 200 grams of Dhanashakti provided women with more than 80 per cent of their recommended daily allowance of iron, compared to only 20 per cent in regular pearl millet varieties.
Barbara Stinson, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, said, “Dr Govindaraj has shown a tireless commitment to making biofortified pearl millet widespread, improving nutrition for people in India and Sub-Saharan Africa.” Ronnie Coffman, professor emeritus at Cornell University and chair of the Borlaug Field Award Jury, said, “Dr Govindaraj truly follows in the footsteps of Norman Borlaug in his quest to ensure nutritious food for all throughout India and Africa.”
