A food scientist who has led the development of a high-yielding grain that has improved nutrition for farmers and communities in India and Africa has been named the recipient of the 2022 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. The World Food Prize announced that Dr. Mahalingam Govindaraj will receive the award. The announcement was made today during the National Symposium on Food, Nutrition and Environmental Security in New Delhi, India. Govindaraj is a senior scientist for crop development at HarvestPlus and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The award is endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation. Govindaraj was recognized for his work to develop and distribute high-yield, high-iron and high-zinc varieties of pearl millet. In 2014, Govindaraj released the world’s first biofortified pearl millet. Independent clinical studies showed that 200 grams of the millet provided women with more than 80% of their recommended daily allowance of iron, compared with only 20% in regular pearl millet varieties. According to a news release, more than 120,000 farms in India grow the specialized millet, with an estimated 9 million people in India consuming the grain by 2024.