Every year I look forward to the World Food Prize announcement because I always learn about someone who has found a unique way to contribute to global food security. The award, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture, boasts a list of luminaries among its past recipients: Former WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini, former U.S. Sens. Bob Dole and George McGovern, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and former Nigerian Agriculture Minister and current African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, among others.
The committee always seems to find a way to award the $250,000 prize to someone meeting a food security challenge of the moment, such as last year when Cynthia Rosenzweig — more from her below — won for her work modeling how climate change will affect agricultural productivity. This year, the World Food Prize Foundation has selected Heidi Kühn, founder of Roots of Peace, a humanitarian organization that restores land to agriculture after conflict. This seems to be a clear signal of how intertwined food security and conflict are as we see growing instability across the world, and how important ending violence is for ensuring access to food.
When I spoke with Kühn in advance of the public announcement — she was traveling in Azerbaijan last week when her honor was made official here at a ceremony in Washington — she told me how Roots of Peace partners with demining organizations to remove land mines and other unexploded weapons from the land. Then, they work with farmers to provide technical assistance and training so they can increase agricultural production and create sustainable livelihoods.
About the author
Teresa Welshtmawelsh
Teresa Welsh is a Senior Reporter at Devex. She has reported from more than 10 countries and is currently based in Washington, D.C. Her coverage focuses on Latin America; U.S. foreign assistance policy; fragile states; food systems and nutrition; and refugees and migration. Prior to joining Devex, Teresa worked at McClatchy's Washington Bureau and covered foreign affairs for U.S. News and World Report. She was a reporter in Colombia, where she previously lived teaching English. Teresa earned bachelor of arts degrees in journalism and Latin American studies from the University of Wisconsin.
