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The visual kickoff of the 2016 World Food Prize events will commence Friday, October 7 with the hanging of the World Food Prize banners above the west entrance of the Iowa State Capitol. The event, which will take place between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m., signals the approaching week of events gathering leaders and experts from around the world, highlighted by the Laureate Award Ceremony, which will be held in the House Chamber of the State Capitol.
The 2016 World Food Prize will be presented to Drs. Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga and Jan Low of the International Potato Center (CIP) for their work developing the single most successful example of biofortification -- the orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP). Dr. Andrade and Dr. Mwanga, plant scientists in Mozambique and Uganda, bred the Vitamin A-enriched OFSP using genetic material from CIP and other sources, while Dr. Low structured the nutrition studies and programs that convinced almost two million households in 10 separate African countries to plant, purchase and consume this nutritionally fortified food.
Dr. Howarth Bouis, the founder of HarvestPlus at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), over a 25-year period pioneered the implementation of a multi-institutional approach to biofortificatoin as a global plant breeding strategy. As a result of his leadership, crops such as iron and zinc fortified beans, rice, wheat and pearl millet, along with Vitamin A-enriched cassava, maize and OFSP are being tested or released in over 40 countries.
The presentation of the award will be broadcast live from the State Capitol on Thursday, October 13 at 7 p.m. on Iowa Public Television.
A complete schedule of World Food Prize week events can be found here.
Press Contact:
Nicole Barreca, Director of Communications and Events
+1.515.245.3735 (direct), +1.563.271.2995 (cell), or nbarreca@wordlfoodprize.org
ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE: The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. Thirty-nine laureates have been recognized from Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Israel, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Nations and the United States. The World Food Prize annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and a variety of youth education programs to help further the discussion on cutting-edge hunger and food security issues and inspire the next generation to end hunger.
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