GUYANESE agri-researcher, Dr. Mahendra Persaud, has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Anthony N. Sabga Award, Caribbean Excellence for Science & Technology.

AS announced on Wednesday in Port of Spain by Awards’ Progamme Director Maria Neilson, Dr. Persaud and two other 2023 Laureates (women’s health doctor, Dr.

Adesh Sirjusingh of Trinidad and Tobago and author Joanne Hillhouse of Antigua & Barbuda) will each receive TT$500,000 in recognition and support of their work at a gala ceremony in Trinidad in June.

“As Chief Scientist at the Rice Research Station at Burma, Persaud has developed high-yielding, disease resistant strains of rice that emerge well under flooded
conditions. Under his leadership, Guyana’s rice yields are said to have risen from a national average of four tonnes per hectare to six tonnes per hectare – second only to top global rice producer, China,” a press release stated.

He is a respected academic who has published widely in his field. In 2016, he received Guyana’s fourth highest national award, the Golden Arrow of Achievement, “for outstanding research as a scientist in the rice industry, resulting in high-yielding varieties with consequential increased rice production.”

He and his team are currently beginning research into the cultivation of wheat in Guyana, which could result in major benefits for regional food security.

The Anthony N. Sabga Awards, Caribbean Excellence have been awarded to Caribbean nationals who excel in the fields of Arts & Letters, Entrepreneurship, Public & Civic Contributions, and Science & Technology, since 2006.

This year’s three Laureates join a distinguished college of 57 awardees from across the Caribbean.

Nominations for the 2024 awards are now open at ansacaribbeanawards.com. The awards are administered by the ANSA McAL Foundation – the philanthropic arm of the ANSA McAL Group.