Ghanaian officials announced this month that Ghana has achieved “zero hunger,” and are crediting this success to some of the policies of former Ghanaian president John Kufuor.  The Zero Hunger Challenge — a UN initiative that is supported by various Non-Governmental Organizations and foundations — aims to eliminate hunger through investments in agriculture, rural development, social protection, and equality of opportunity.  In particular, the challenge aims to achieve the following goals:

  •  Zero stunted children
  • 100% access to adequate food all year round
  • Sustainable food systems
  • 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income
  • Zero loss or waste of food

While it is not clear whether Ghana has met all of these specific benchmarks, it has made significant strides in increasing agricultural production, tackling deforestation, and increasing its per capita GDP, which has increased from $275 in 2001 to $1,850 in 2013.  A number of Kufuor’s policies are cited by the Thompson Reuters Foundation as reasons for this success:

Indeed, these efforts did not go unnoticed.  In 2011, Kufuor was awarded the World Food Prize for his efforts to improve food security and reduce poverty through public- and private-sector initiatives.  The list of Kufuor’s achievements at that time included helping Ghana to become the first sub-Saharan African country to cut in half the proportion of its people who suffer from hunger, and the creation of the Ghana School Feeding Program to provide nutritious meals to school children ages 4 to 14.  Ghana now as seen as role model for other countries, such as India, which are starting their own zero hunger campaigns.