Professor M.S. Swaminathan — founder of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) — was awarded the first World Agriculture Prize at the 11th Global Agriculture Leadership Summit in New Delhi recently.
He received the award from Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu at the event hosted by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture. The M.S. Swaminathan Junior Research Fellowship — to be awarded from 2019 onwards — was also instituted on the occasion.
Talking about the fellowship, Prof. Swaminathan said that the cash associated with the prize would be used for creating fellowships at MSSRF at the post-graduate level, to convert the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into field-level accomplishments. The fellowship would help promote linkages between agriculture, nutrition and health, through a ‘Farming Systems for Nutrition’ programme.
The fellowship would be an opportunity for young scholars to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including eradication of hunger and climate change. The five areas considered for the fellowship are: the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 of Zero Hunger, Farming System for Nutrition (FSN), genetic garden of bio-fortified crops and halophytes, bio-valley for curative and culinary diversity and eco-technologies for eco-enterprises
Research scholars may submit their applications to the Executive Director, MSSRF, at executivedirector@mssrf.res.in, by November 30. A monthly stipend of ₹25,000 will be provided.