Ameena Nazreen Wins Global Youth Institute Award in USA

An Indian school student has come home with a prize from the world's best known food-security gathering. Ms Ameena Nazreen A S won the Global Youth Institute (GYI) Award, which carries a cash prize of US$500, at the World Food Prize Foundation's annual event in the United States.

The event

The gathering was the 2026 Norman E Borlaug International Dialogue, organised by the World Food Prize Foundation and held from 20 to 22 October 2026 in Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. Its theme was Before Hunger Wins. India was represented there by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi.

What India did there

• Ran an exhibition booth displaying leading publications of NAAS and of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• Sent seven high school students, picked through the NAAS-YUVA selection drive, to the Global Youth Institute programme, where they presented research papers on food-security problems.
• Held a special roundtable on Agricultural Higher Education alongside the main dialogue, drawing in the Indian agricultural diaspora.
• Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) of the United States.

The MoU

The agreement between NAAS and CAST is meant to open fresh ground for cooperation in agricultural research, capacity development and the exchange of knowledge. It is expected to tighten institutional links between the two academies and create openings for scientific collaboration across borders.

What was said

Dr M. L. Jat spoke at the roundtable by video. He is President of NAAS, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General of ICAR. He argued that agricultural higher education has to be re-imagined so that professionals leaving college are ready for climate change, the degradation of natural resources, the loss of biodiversity and a rising demand for nutritious food. He pressed for a shift away from a production-first view of farming towards an integrated agri-food systems and value-chain approach, and called for closer ties between academia and industry, more exchange of knowledge across countries, and a bigger role for the Indian agricultural diaspora in building industry-ready manpower. He added that nurturing young talent and building international partnerships are both necessary if sustainable agriculture is to find workable answers, particularly in the countries of the Global South.