Thursday, September 8 2005 10:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: An Indian scientist Modadugu V Gupta has won the USD 2,50,000 World Food Prize for his work to enhance nutrition for over one million people in Asia and Africa through aquaculture and fish farming.

Gupta's name was announced by President of World Food Prize Foundation Kenneth M Quinn at a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington, a US Embassy statement said in Delhi.

He was selected for the honour based on his work over three decades at the World Fish Center, a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research of the World Bank.

"Gupta made small-scale aquaculture a viable means for over one million very poor farmers and women to improve their family's nutrition and well being", Quinn said.

He said as a result of his efforts, freshwater fish production has risen dramatically in South and South-East Asia and Africa by as much as three to five times.

Gupta is the sixth Indian to receive the prize since it was established in 1986. Previous recipients are M S Swaminathan, Varghese Kurien, Gurdev Khush, B R Barwale and Surinder K Vasal.