Kufuor and Da Silva Receive World Food Prize

John Agyekum Kufuor and Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva jointly received the 2011 World Food Prize at an award ceremony at the Borlaug International Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa last October 13, 2011. They were recognized for "their personal commitment and visionary leadership while serving as the presidents of Ghana and of Brazil, respectively, in creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in their countries." According to the World Food Prize website, "The significant achievements of these two former heads of state illustrate that transformational leadership truly can effect positive change and greatly improve people's lives."

Kufuor's economic and educational policies led to significant positive changes in Ghana. The country became the first sub-Saharan African country to cut in half the proportion of its people who suffer from hunger , thus on course to achieve UN Millennium Development Goal 1 before the 2015 deadline.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's fight against hunger and poverty was a top priority of his government. His national initiatives embodied in his Zero Hunger strategy were well aligned with the UN Millennium Development Goals. During his tenure, MDG 1 was exceeded before the 2015 deadline.

View the World Food Prize press article at http://www.worldfoodprize.org/en/laureates/2011_laureates/.  Check out http://www.ifpri.org/blog/john-agyekum-kufuor-receives-world-food-prize?utm_source=New+At+IFPRI&utm_campaign=149ea6c5f0-New_at_IFPRI_Oct_27_2011&utm_medium=email for related information.