The Dominican Republic looks like it's ahead of the curve when it comes to fighting hunger, and the United Nations praised the island nation Monday for its efforts.

In Rome, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's director Jose Graziano Da Silva presented Dominican Republic president Danilo Medina with a medal in honor of the nation's progress after cutting in half the number of people suffering from inadequate nutrition this year.

According to Dominican Today, the reduction of the Dominican Republic's hunger mark comes one year ahead of the main goal set by the nation as part of the Millennium Development Goals developed by the U.N. As described, there are eight goals in millennium development, which range from cutting extreme poverty rates in half to providing universal primary education and ceasing the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

According to President Medina, who spoke Monday as a keynote speaker at the organization's headquarters in Rome, the only sustainable strategy against hunger lies in the revitalization of agricultural fields and their ability to yield not only food, but also decent living wages for Dominican families.

Farming and agriculture play a significant role of importance to the nation's health, as the agricultural sector -- which employs more than 500,00 and is the main source of income for many families in rural areas of the nation -- makes the field "an ineluctable priority and a growth driver with enormous potential for the country," Medina added.

Medina also praised the organization's efforts to promote new systems of agricultural framework to mark the International Year of Family Farming 2014 and the "orientation of the steps of [fellow] states to achieve the goal of feeding the world by caring for the planet."

The International Year of Family Farming is an initiative started by the Food and Agricultural Organization seeking to raise the profile of family farming through focusing global attention on the role of family farming in eliminating hunger and poverty, providing nutrition, and protecting the environment, among other goals.