Former president John Agyekum Kufuor is urging government to make conscious efforts at modernising agriculture to guarantee food security and grow the capacity to export surplus harvest. Mr. Kufuor made this comment after being named as joint winner of this year’s World Food Prize at a ceremony in the United States. John Kufuor and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the $250,000 World Food Prize for cutting hunger in half while serving as president of their nations, the prize organizers announced on Tuesday. It described them as powerful examples who have set the gold standard for presidential leadership in tackling poverty. Mr. Kufuor told Joy News after the ceremony that he feels greatly honoured by being awarded along with the Brazilian President whom he referred to as a “great leader”. “I am very happy that the efforts my government made in fighting hunger and poverty has gained notice and recognition of the World Food Prize, so I am very happy. I believe it is a new level of fulfillment for me and of course, for our country Ghana,” Mr Kufuor said. The former president who says his government took advantage of the Millennium Challenge Account to revolutionise agriculture, is asking succeeding governments to do a lot to scientifically modernise agriculture to ensure food sufficiency locally as well grow the capacity to export surpluses. According to the WFP, Former President Kufuor used public and private sector initiatives to improve food security and reduce poverty. They included a programme to provide one meal a day to schoolchildren and educating farmers on best farming practices. Ghana, with about 25 million citizens, was the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa, to cut hunger in half. Norman Bourlag founded the World Food Prize in 1986 to recognize people who improved the quantity, quality or availability of food. A wheat breeder, Bourlag won the 1970s Nobel Peace Prize as a founder of the "Green Revolution" whose high-yielding food crops foiled predictions of famine in the developing world. The prize will be awarded formally during a three-day symposium in Iowa in mid-October. Source: Joy News/Myjoyonline.com (with additional files from Reuters