“The adoption of hybrid rice as an agricultural innovation can have a positive impact on food security”, says Till Ludwig, this year’s awardee of the prestigious Hans Ruthenberg Award for graduates. Although population is projected to increase dramatically in the future years consequently affecting the supply in food insecure areas, he added that its adoption can improve the rice consumption per capita between 0.17% and 7.62% especially in countries that are dependent on rice as a staple food crop. The research entitled “Impact of Hybrid Rice on Food Security. A Spatial Partial Equilibrium Analysis of Global Adoption and Diffusion of Hybrid Rice Varieties” has been taken seriously by scientists and its substantial impact have made it to be accepted for publication in the International Rice Research Institute. However, Till cautioned that it is a consumer oriented research. Looking at the production system of hybrid rice, the disadvantages still outweighs the benefits, and one should take into account that the bulk of rice consumers are in fact smallholder rice producers. Till Ludwig's Oral Presentation Till received a double MSc degree in rural development and agricultural economics in the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, University of Gent in Belgium and the University of Arkansas in the USA. The program allowed him to travel around the world. In this journey, he was particularly attached in agricultural studies in Southeast Asia focusing on the rice sector . Main challenges in research Having a social science background, he was deeply challenged with having to generate a lot of econometric models using the RICEFLOW that was developed by one of his supervisor in the US. It has proven to be an adequate tool to estimate the impact of hybrid rice on food security. The endeavor made it all worthwhile. He feels deeply honored that his academic work has been acknowledged by external juries. This he says is a great boost to his morale to continue in the same path. He is now an independent consultant working for the GIZ in nutrition sensitive agriculture in Bangladesh. He is still thinking about starting a PhD, on the criteria that the research should be attached to a development work implemented in the field. A video interview from Till Ludwig can be watched here