Figure: Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, a CGIAR scientist and nutrition expert from WorldFish, was named today as the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate for improving the quality, quantity, and availability of food in the world through her pioneering scientific work on nutrition, fish, and aquatic food systems.

Often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for food and agriculture,” the World Food Prize is the most prominent global award recognizing an individual who has enhanced human development and confronted global hunger by improving the quality, quantity, and availability of food for all.

Thilsted is the seventh woman, first woman of Asian heritage, and the 25^th CGIAR researcher, to be awarded the prize.

Thilsted’s groundbreaking research insights and landmark innovations have led to the development of nutrition-sensitive approaches in aquatic food systems and integrated food production from land and water. She was the first to establish that many small fish species commonly eaten across Southeast Asia are an important source of essential micronutrients and fatty acids, and improve the absorption of nutrients in plant-based foods. Her research has reshaped scientific understanding of the benefits of fish in diets, demonstrating that these affordable and locally available foods offer life-changing benefits for children’s cognitive development in their first 1000 days of life and the nutrition and health of their mothers.

“Dr. Thilsted’s work has transformed the lives of millions of vulnerable people around the world,” said Claudia Sadoff, CGIAR Executive Management Team Convener and Managing Director, Research Delivery and Impact. “Her research on aquatic foods is a major contribution to the positive transformation of food, land and water systems in the climate crisis that we face today. Not only have her innovations improved health, incomes, and gender equality, but they have also boosted communities’ resilience and increased the quality and quantity of nutritious, climate-friendly foods available to them.”

Held today as a virtual event, the 2021 Laureate Announcement featured remarks from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack and UN Nutrition Chair Naoko Yamamot.

See: https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/wfp2021