Today, the World Food Prize Foundation announced that the 2011 World Food Prize will be awarded to former president of Ghana John Agyekum Kufuor and former president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for their contributions to improving food production and alleviating hunger. The World Food Prize is the premier international award recognizing individuals who have increased the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. This is the first time in its 25 years that the World Food Prize has been awarded to heads of state.

The winners were announced at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of State that featured USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and World Food Prize Foundation President, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn. The speakers used the opportunity to emphasize the importance of alleviating hunger worldwide, and the role of innovations to help us meet the challenge of food security.

Under Secretary Robert Hormats opened the ceremony by calling for policies and programs that support agricultural technologies such as “new innovative disease resistant crop varieties.” Echoing his sentiments, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah described his vision of sharing ag technology worldwide to help prevent global hunger. Both Mr. Lula da Silva and Mr. Kufuor promoted technologies as tools to alleviate hunger and, as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “made a fundamental difference in their countries.”

President Lula da Silva’s administration spearheaded efforts to make Brazil a world leader in the adoption of biotech crops. He supported a $23 billion investment in a four-year “Plan for Action for Science, Technology and Innovation,” which funded research and innovation in biotechnology, among other science initiatives. Brazil claims 17 percent of the world’s biotech crops—only second to the US in total cropland devoted to biotech crops. During his tenure, Ghana’s former president Kufuor urged West African leaders to embrace biotechnology to help fight hunger in Africa.

Visit here to learn more about the World Food Prize laureates.

GM crops are key to improving ag production in Africa, the Economist reports

According to an Economist Special Report this week, biotechnology has helped African countries to significantly improve crop yields and overcome environmental challenges.

Joe deVries, head of crop research at the Alliance for a Green Revolution (AGRA) says that previously African farmers had low yields for crops such as sorghum and cassava, but the adoption of biotech sorghum has tripled yields and genetic research helps prevent the devastation of cassava from disease. Read more.

Harvard Professor recommends GM crops as solution to low food production in Africa

In Harvard Magazine, Professor Calestous Juma at the Harvard Kennedy School says that agricultural technology could help Africa improve its food production. Professor Juma is founder of the African Centre for Technology Studies, the first African NGO dedicated to promoting science and technology methods for sustainable development, and he currently directs the Agricultural Innovation Project at Harvard, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  His book, The New Harvest, “notes that the use of genetically modified BT corn and cotton has reduced pesticide use and increased crop yields in Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Egypt.” Read more.

March 17: film about founder of first seed company to be screened at the National Portrait Gallery

On Thursday, March 17, at 12 PM EST the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. will premiere the film Henry Wallace: An Uncommon Man. The film presents a biographical portrait of the Iowa farmer, scientist and writer who founded the world’s first hybrid seed company that catalyzed the Green Revolution of the 20^th century, which has helped save more than a billion people in Latin America and Asia through improved plant varieties.  Mr. Wallace served as Agriculture Secretary and Vice President under Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II. Read more.

Submit nominations for the 2012 World Food Prize

The World Food Prize is accepting nominations for its annual award to honor individuals who have contributed to “improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.” Norman Borlaug, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who has also been called the “Father of the Green Revolution,” founded The World Food Prize twenty-five years ago to continue his legacy of implementing agricultural technologies that help fight global hunger. The deadline for submitting nominations for 2012 is April 1, 2011. Read more.