ICARDA Receives the Almarai Prize for Creative Scientific Work

03 December 2025, Saudi Arabia: ICARDA was honored to receive the prestigious Almarai Prize for Creative Scientific Work for its flagship regional project, Enhancing Food Security in Arab Countries (EFSAC), a 12-year, multi-country project that has transformed wheat-based food systems across the Middle East and North Africa.

ICARDA’s Director General, Mr. Aly Abousabaa, accepted the award in Riyadh alongside Dr. Seid-Ahmed Kemal, ICARDA Principal Scientist and the project lead, in a ceremony attended by ministers, senior officials, and leading figures in the scientific and development communities.

During his remarks, the Director General expressed deep appreciation to Almarai Company, and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), in addition to the donors and national partners whose commitment made the project’s achievements possible.

The award-winning EFSAC project was launched in 2010, at a time when global food price shocks had exposed the vulnerability of Arab countries to cereal import dependency. Over three phases and across ten Arab countries, the project worked to increase wheat and barley productivity, improve seed systems, strengthen agronomic practices, and build national scientific capacity. Supported generously by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), OPEC Fund (OFID), Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the Gates Foundation over its three phases, the project delivered measurable and lasting impact for farmers and food systems throughout the region which included:

• Up to 66% increases in wheat productivity, with regional averages rising by 29%
• 17.8% boost in wheat production, equivalent to US$450 million in additional farmer income
• Water productivity gains of 63-200% in some countries
• Over 12 heat- and drought-tolerant wheat varieties released across participating countries
• Training for 128,000 farmers, extension agents, and young scientists
• More than 2 million people directly benefiting from improved technologies
• Research showing that food loss and waste across the value chain could be substantially reduced with the policy, institutional, and technological changes identified by the project

The project’s approach, combining improved varieties, climate-smart agronomy, water-saving technologies, and strong research extension linkages, now serves as a global model for enhancing food security in dryland environments.

Due to its successes over the past three phases, ICARDA is preparing Phase IV of EFSAC, which will scale proven innovations, advance seed systems and climate-smart technologies, enhance research on food loss and waste, and support more smallholder farmers across expanded geographies in strengthening their resilience.

In accepting the prize, Mr. Aly Abousabaa noted that the award is both a recognition of past achievements and a springboard for the next chapter. 

“The region’s food security challenges are evolving, and so must our solutions. A fourth phase will allow us to continue empowering farmers on the front lines of climate change and to scale the innovations that have already transformed so many lives.”

ICARDA invites interested donors and partners who share this vision to reach out to Dr. Michael Baum at m.baum@cgiar.org to connect and collaborate as the next phase is shaped.

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