The King Baudouin Award is given only once every 2 years after close scrutiny by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the CGIAR - which includes many of the world’s most esteemed agricultural scientists. ICRISAT is the first center in the history of the CGIAR to win two King Baudouin Awards in a row. In 1996, ICRISAT had won the Award for outstanding research on pearl millet. "This is a shining testament to the continuing strength of ICRISAT's science and the vitality of its partnerships," said Mr Parthasarathy during his announcement.

ICRISAT was presented the 1998 Award for its submission "Pigeonpea Improvement at ICRISAT: from Orphan Crop to Pacesetter". The submission reveals how its researchers, in collaboration with a worldwide network of national organizations in the public, private, and community sectors mobilized the best of science to solve formidable problems and develop practical methods and products for use by small farmers.

Five outstanding achievements were highlighted:

• Genetic resources: working with national agricultural programs around the world to develop a 13 000-strong world collection, revising the taxonomy and clarifying the center of origin of the crop, and (through partnership with Japan) discovering that pigeonpea has a special ability to extract phosphorus from the soil;

• Disease resistance: working with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to control fusarium wilt in India, generating massive economic and food-security benefits to farmers across central India;

• New plant type: With ICAR and Australian scientists, developing a short-duration, high-yielding plant type that created new cropping system opportunities and has had major impact while diversifying cereals-based farming systems;

• Hybrid pigeonpea: creating the world’s first hybrid of any legume crop to go into commercial production, with 25% higher yield, and greater drought and stress tolerance; and

• Strong partnerships: strong and innovative partnerships in both Africa and Asia, including national programs, NGOs, the private sector, and women’s and men's farming groups. Close partnerships with ICAR, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the Maharastra Hybrid Seed Company, the Horticultural Exporting Company of Kenya, and the Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka, among many others, were key. Development investors also played a crucial role at each step of the way - especially the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Government of Japan, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the CGIAR’s core donors to ICRISAT.