Another World Food Prize winner has an IRRI connection

World Food Day is a day of action against hunger. Every year, on October 16, people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. In the lead-up to this international event, the annual winner of the World Food Prize is feted in Des Moines, Iowa.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of Brac, the largest non-governmental organisation on the planet, has been awarded the 2015 World Food prize for his “unparalleled work on reducing poverty in Bangladesh and 10 other countries.

Sir Fazle served on the IRRI Board of Trustees from 2001 through 2006.  “I think IRRI has a lot to do in the future," he said in his Pioneer interview in 2006 during the 2nd International Rice Congress in New Delhi. "It met challenges in the first 50 years, but it will have even greater challenges in the next 50, including climate change and water shortages, which are going to affect agriculture, rice cultivation, and food production in our society.”

Sir Fazle received the Prize at a ceremony held earlier this week at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines. The event was the centerpiece of a three-day international symposium entitled the Borlaug Dialogue, which drew more than 1,200 people from 65 countries to discuss cutting-edge issues in global food security.

IRRI and the World Food Prize have a historic bond. Read about nine other WFP laureates with IRRI connections in Gene Hettel's October IRRI History blog.


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