2022 World Food Prize

6May 2022

Introduction:

The World Food Prize is an award that is given with the aim of recognizing the achievements of individuals from across the world who have helped in advancing the development of humans by improving the quantity, quality, or availability of food across the world.

 The 2022 World Food Prize?

• Cynthia Rosenzweig, NASA’s head of the Climate Impacts Group and a senior research scientist at Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) received this year’s prize from the World Food Prize Foundation on 5^th May 2022.
•  She received USD 250,000 along with a commemorative sculpture and a diploma.

Why was Cynthia Rosenzweig awarded?

• She received the award for her research that helped understand the relationship between food systems and climate and the forecast of how both will be changing in the future.
• Her work has provided policymakers across the globe to come up with strategies that will help mitigate climate change and help the food systems adapt to the changing planet.

When was the prize established?

• This award was conceived by Norman Borlaug, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In the year 1986, this prize was established with the support of General Foods.
• The first prize was given in the year 1987.

What does this prize envision?

• The prize has been envisioned as the Nobel prize in the field of agriculture and food.
• The World Food Prize Foundation now awards this prize with the support from numerous sponsors.

This prize recognizes contributions in which field.

This prize has been awarded annually since to recognize contributions in all those fields that involve world food supply like:

• Aquaculture
• animal science
• water conservation
• soil science
• health
• nutrition
• seed science
• plant science
• crop protection
• plant pathology
• food safety
• food technology
• research
• policy
• emergency relief
• infrastructure
• hunger
• poverty alleviation

Who received the first World Food Prize in the year 1987?

• In the year 1987, the first recipient of this award was M.S. Swaminathan.
• He was given this award for contributing to the introduction of high-yield rice and wheat varieties in India and also for starting the country’s green revolution.