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Jones is Special Adviser to the President of Sierra Leone and Ambassador-at-Large. Formerly he served as exec. dir., Forum for Agric. Research in Africa (FARA), Accra, Ghana. He is co-winner of the 2004 World Food Prize for the devlpmt. of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) combining traits of the traditional robust African rice variety (Oryza glaberrima) with the productive Asian variety (O. sativa). This true interspecific hybrid has important morpho-agronomic traits for weed suppression, higher levels of resistance/tolerance to major biotic and abiotic stresses, gives higher yield and tastes good. Jones is a recipient of Hon. DSc, U. of Birmingham; Insignia of the Grand Officer, Order of the Rokel, Sierra Leone; Natl. Order of Merit , Côte d'Ivoire; and King Bedouin Award by CGIAR. He was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine (2007).