Former Ghana, Brazil presidents awarded food prize

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former presidents of the Republic of Ghana and Brazil are this year’s winners of the World Food Prize for their work to reduce by half the number of people in their countries who suffer from hunger.

Former Ghana President John Kufuor and former Brazil President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva were named this year’s World Food Prize laureates during a ceremony today in Washington. They will receive the award and split $250,000 this fall in Des Moines, Iowa.

Iowa native Norman Borlaug established the food prize in 1986 to honor efforts to lessen global hunger. Borlaug, who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, died in 2009.

Kufuor and Silva both established programs in their countries that helped reach the United Nation’s Millennium Project’s goal of reducing hunger.