Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh Wins The World Food Prize 2015

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh, the internationally renowned founder and chairperson of BRAC, will be honored as the 2015 World Food Prize Laureate for his unparalleled achievement in building a unique, integrated development organization that many have hailed as the most effective anti-poverty organization in the world. 

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Sir Abed was born in 1936 in Baniachong, in Bangladesh’s Habiganj district. He attended the University of Glasgow in Scotland to study naval architecture. Further he also did his graduation from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London in 1962 to make a career in accounting.

He worked for Shell Oil Company in Chittagong on top position during the period 1970-71. After resigning from Shell he formed the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (later renamed as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee ´-BRAC’s ) to address the terrible devastation suffered by the people of his country.

Press advisory released from World Food Prize mentions, "In the area of agriculture, Abed’s leadership has led to extraordinary advancements in the poultry, seed, and dairy industries in Bangladesh, and has forged a path for progress in the global agricultural sector, enhancing food quality and security across the developing world".

The Chairman of the World Food Prize Selection Committee and the first World Food Prize Laureate in 1987, Dr, M.S. Swaminathan, has praised Sir Fazle Hasan Abed as a “strategic thinker, and a man with a future vision.”

Pic courtesy: BRAC Blog

The World Food Prize was conceived by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1986, The World Food Prize has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world. Laureates have been recognized from Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, China, Cuba, Denmark, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Israel, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Nations and the United States.

Winner of World Food Prize 2014 was Dr Sanjay Rajaram, an India born agriculturist.