The Board of Trustees of Advanced Agricultural Sciences in India announced that Prof. Dr. Adel El-Beltagy, Director-General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, won the Dr. Swaminathan International Prize for Agriculture for this year among a number of scientists and experts all over the world.

In announcing El-Beltagy’s winning of the 12th prize, the Board of Trustees said that it came in appreciation of the distinguished services and contributions of this scientist and his role in reducing poverty and eliminating hunger at the regional and global levels, especially in the regions of West Asia, North Africa, South and Central Asia, through his work as Director General of the International Center for Research Agriculture in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and also as Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of the Arab Republic of Egypt and as President of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR)

For his part, Dr. Raj Barouda, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, expressed his happiness with El-Beltagy winning the award, and the award ceremony will be held in an online ceremony on November 30 next month, due to Corona’s precautionary measures.

It is worth noting that Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Norman Borlaug is the first to receive this award in 2005, so that El-Beltagy will be one of the shining signs for Egypt in the events of 2021. This is not the first time that El-Beltagy has won an international award. Various international events, including:

The gold medal of the International Center for Advanced Agricultural Studies of the Mediterranean Countries (CIHEAM) France in recognition of his efforts as president of the center in the development of agriculture in the Mediterranean countries (2015).

The State Descretionary Award for Agricultural Sciences 2008 in Egypt

The Commander’s Medal in the Field of Agriculture from the French government (December 2014) in appreciation of his efforts in international agricultural development, especially for the countries of the Mediterranean basin.

- The Order of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the late Sultan of Oman, First Class, for Sciences, Culture and Arts (2009)

- Medal of Independence from His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein, King of Jordan (2005).

- Gold Medal from the Ministry of Agriculture – Republic of Armenia (2006).

- International Member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Moscow (1999).