World-leading research and development on cassava by the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich has been honoured with a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

The award was announced tonight, 19th November, at a ceremony at St James’ Palace in London. Her Majesty the Queen is to present the university with a silver gilt medallion and prize-winner’s certificate during a special reception at Buckingham Palace next year.

The prize recognises NRI’s research and development in the field of cassava, the tropical root crop predominantly grown by smallholder farmers in the developing world, especially in Africa, where it is an important staple food for millions. NRI’s work has been sustainably improving the cassava value chain for over 25 years.

Cassava faces a number of challenges: it is vulnerable to attack by pests and virus diseases and faces obstacles to market access, storage and handling issues and a short shelf-life. It has also received less investment than other crops resulting in significant gaps in knowledge.

Read more : http://www.nri.org/news/2015/nri-awarded-queen-s-anniversary-prize-for-ground-breaking-work-on-cassava?utm_source=Natural+Resources+Institute+List&utm_campaign=2744644016-The_Resource_Edition_31_December_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c16b55638a-2744644016-38807685&ct=t(The_Resource_Edition_31_December_2015)