Danish agronomist Per Pinstrup-Andersen has been credited with bringing food and farming issues to the forefront of government agendas in an effort to reduce poverty and hunger.
Pinstrup-Andersen, 62, was named recipient Monday of the World Food Prize, a 250,000-dollar award considered the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in the area of food and agriculture.
The award recognizes his research and advocacy work as "a brilliant catalyst for policy change which jarred the international community out of the complacency prevalent a decade ago," said Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation.
Since 1992, he has directed the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, a leading think-tank on hunger issues, with some 60 researchers.
Under his stewardship, IFPRI developed a computer projection model to project the effects of government policies on child malnutrition and food security.
IFPRI on Tuesday released a report based on use of the model describing the likely world food situation in 2020 and alternative scenarios based on different policy decisions.
In September, IFPRI and the German government are hosting an international conference on food security in Bonn.
Research by Pinstrup-Andersen laid the foundation for "Food for Education" programs granting families food subsidies in exchange for keeping their children in school, the World Food Prize Foundation said.
He has worked with the governments of Pakistan and Egypt to help reform policy to increase food access for the poor, and helped Malawi and Uganda improve food distribution in the face of famine.
A Danish citizen residing in Washington, Pinstrup-Andersen grew up on a farm and left school after seventh grade to become a hired farm worker.
Years later, he studied agricultural economics at Denmark's Agricultural University and earned advanced degrees at Oklahoma State University in the United States.
His career included stints at the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Cali, Colombia and Cornell University in upstate New York.
He has written more than 300 books, articles, and papers, and holds honorary degrees from universities in India, Switzerland, Britain and the Netherlands. |
