Dr. Aditi Mukherji was formally presented with the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application on October 17, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Mukherji received the award from Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, President of the World Food Prize and Dr. Ronnie Caufman, Chair of the search committee at the World Food Prize international symposium. She is the first recipient of the $10,000 award. ‘I am delighted and humbled to receive this award,’ says Dr Mukherji.

IWMI scientist wins major award for field research

(Stockholm, August 27) Aditi Mukherji, a senior social scientist based in IWMI’s Delhi office, has been announced as the first ever winner of the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. The $10,000 award, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, will be presented this October in Des Moines, Iowa, by the World Food Prize Foundation.

Dr Mukherji was recognised for almost a decade of field work on poverty, agriculture and natural resource management in West Bengal, India, which has had a significant influence on state water policy.

"I am delighted to win this prestigious award,” says Mukherji. “My research argued that intensive groundwater use with proper checks and balances could unleash a second round of Green Revolution in this poverty stricken but water rich state. I was fortunate that these arguments found acceptance among senior policy makers in the new government in West Bengal. The policy changes now enacted will make it easier for farmers to access the already abundant groundwater resources and intensify their farming activities in a profitable and sustainable manner."

This award recognizes exceptional, science-based achievement in international agriculture and food production by an individual under 40 who has clearly demonstrated intellectual courage, stamina, and determination in the fight to eliminate global hunger and poverty.
The award was officially announced by Dr Colin Chartres, director general of IWMI, the institutional winner of this year’s Stockholm Water Prize, at the opening plenary session of Stockholm World Water Week.

World Food Prize Press Release: Young Indian Scientist Announced as First Winner of the Borlaug Field Award