Ex-Nigerian minister wins prestigious $250,000 World Food Prize

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, has been named the winner of this year’s World Food Prize.

The prestigious U.S.$250,000 prize is given annually to a person who has worked to advance human development by “improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world”.

Over a 31-year existence, the award has become known as the ‘Nobel Prize’ for food and agriculture.

Monday’s announcement by the president of the World Food Prize, Kenneth Quinn, was made at a ceremony held at the U.S. Department of Agriculture attended by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. Since its founding in 1986, the Prize has honoured 45 individuals for their outstanding contributions to food security around the world.

“These individuals have been at the forefront of every major breakthrough in agriculture and food production in the last 30 years”, Mr. Quinn told AllAfrica in a telephone interview before Monday’s announcement. He said the laureates have led the “single greatest period of food production and hunger reduction in all human history”. Nominations for the prize, he said, are submitted by organizations and prestigious individuals. A selection committee – made of individuals from around the world – makes the decision.

– Premium Times