Ghana has been honoured by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, for achieving internationally established targets in the fight against hunger. Ghana was among 38 countries recognised by the FAO for achieving Millennium Development Goal 1, which aims to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015. Ghana also met the more stringent World Food Summit goal of halving the absolute number of hungry people by 2015. At the high level ceremony which was held at the FAO headquarters in Rome, the Director General of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, urged the Heads of State present to “seize every opportunity in fighting hunger”. Meanwhile President John Mahama has said FAO’s acknowledgement shows the progress Ghana is making towards achieving it goals. Speaking ahead of the ceremony, President Mahama said “in 1990 the prevalence of under-nourishment in Ghana’s population was 34%, in 2000 that figure was 11%, in 2012 that figure was reduced even further to 5%”. He said Ghana's achievements has been the reward of progress and patience over the years.