Sourced from: http://www.worldfoodprize.org
World Food Prize for 2011 has been announced and this year’s winners are two former presidents, who led the drastic reduction of hunger and poverty in their countries.
In a ceremony held recently at the U.S. State Department John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of Ghana, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil, were announced as the winners of the World Food Prize 2011 for their efforts and achievements in creating and implementing government policies that alleviated hunger and poverty in their countries. They were commended in remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah.
“President Kufuor and President Lula da Silva have set a powerful example for other political leaders in the world,” said Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize, in announcing the laureates. “Thanks to their personal commitment and visionary leadership, both Ghana and Brazil are on track to exceed the UN Millennium Development Goal 1 – to cut in half extreme hunger before 2015.”
“President Kufuor and President Lula da Silva have set the gold standard for presidential leadership in tackling the global challenges of poverty and hunger,” said Administrator Rajiv Shah, who also delivered Clinton’s remarks due to a change in schedule. “By helping train the next generation of forward-thinking leaders, we can build upon the legacy of Norman Borlaug and the inspirational work of this year’s World Food Prize laureates to deliver meaningful results in food security and nutrition for people in developing countries across the world.”
These two leaders will be formally awarded the World Food Prize at the 25th Anniversary Laureate Award Ceremony at the Iowa State Capital on October 13, in conjunction with the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, themed “The Next Generation: Confronting the Hunger Challenges of Tomorrow.”
World Food Prize was established in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, an agronomist and Nobel Laureate popularly known as the “father of the Green Revolution”. It is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
