Carrie Fowler and Geoffrey Hawtin, who played a key role in setting up the World Seed Bank to preserve agricultural diversity, have been selected for this year's World Food Prize.

Washington: Carrie Fowler and Jeffrey Hawtin, who played a key role in setting up the World Seed Bank to preserve agricultural diversity, have been selected for this year's World Food Prize. Carrie is the US Special Envoy for the World Food Security Program. Geoffrey of Britain is an agronomist. Member of the Executive Board of the International Crop Diversity Trust. A total prize of 5 lakh dollars will be shared between the two.

The US State Department announced the award on Thursday. America's Secretary of State Antony Blinken appreciated their efforts to protect the diversity of the world's crops, 6 thousand types of crops and culturally important plants. The purpose of setting up this repository is to keep the seeds safe from political crises and environmental changes. It was set up next to a mountain on an island in Norway in the Arctic Circle. The seeds are safe because of the temperatures there. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened in 2008. There, 12.5 lakh seed samples from almost every country in the world have been preserved.