Good, healthy food: Thilsted holding prepared fish in a market in Cambodia. Her pond polyculture system has helped millions of people worldwide put nutritious food on their plates, earning her the prestigious award.
PETALING JAYA: It’s a fishy story but in the best way possible. A fish farming system that has put nutritious food on the plates of millions just earned its inventor the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate award.
Nutrition expert Dr Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, a Danish citizen based in Penang, has also become the first woman of Asian heritage to be given the honour.
Developing a way to raise nutrient-rich small fish inexpensively, her work has nourished low income families in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Malawi.