new york eminent indianamerican soil scientist rattan lal was on thursday named this years recipient of 250000 world food prize with us secretary of state mike pompeo lauding his research in soil science saying he is helping millions of small farmers around the world with his work on increasing food production and recycling of nutrientslal 75 was named as the 2020 world food prize laureate for developing and mainstreaming a soilcentric approach to increasing food production that conserves natural resources and mitigates climate changethe worlds population continues to grow and we need to use the resources we have more productively and efficiently to make sure everyone has enough food on their table pompeo saiddr lals research in soil science shows that the solution to this problem is right under our feet hes helping the earths estimated 500 million small farmers be faithful stewards of their land though improved management less soil degradation and the recycling of nutrients the billions of people who depend on these farms stand to benefit greatly from his work he saida native of india and citizen of the united states lal has in his career of over 50 years and across four continents promoted innovative soilsaving techniques that benefited the livelihoods of more than 500 million smallholder farmers improved the food and nutritional security of more than two billion people and saved hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems the world food prize organisation saiddescribing his unbound joy and excitement on receiving the 2020 world food prize lal said the urgent task of feeding humanity is not fulfilled until each and every person has access to an adequate amount of nutritious food grown on a healthy soil and in a clean environmentus secretary of agriculture sonny perdue said the scientific innovations like those developed by lal embody the us department of agricultures motto of to do right and feed everyonethe agricultural practices lal developed and advocated for are now at the heart of efforts to improve agricultural systems perdue saidlal serves as distinguished university professor of soil science and founding director of the carbon management and sequestration center at the ohio state university osuin 2007 he was among those recognised with a nobel peace prize certificate for his contributions to the intergovernmental panel on climate change ipcc reports when the ipcc was named corecipient of the nobel prizeworld food prize foundation president barbara stinson described lal as a trailblazer in soil science with a prodigious passion for research that improves soil health enhances agricultural production improves the nutritional quality of food restores the environment and mitigates climate changestinson added that lals decades of work to address all of these elements fully warrants his recognition as the 50th world food prize laureatefrom his humble beginnings as a refugee growing up on a small subsistence farm in india his determination to learn and succeed in school propelled him to become one of the worlds foremost soil scientists the organisation said in a statementlals pioneering research on