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Global Food Quandary 全球粮食紧缺的困境

详细资料: 创建于 2009年5月02日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年3月20日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：262

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How will the planet’s growing population be fed? 地球上持续增多的人口怎样才能填饱肚子？

In the lakeside capital of the central African country of Burundi, 40-year-old Lucie Nahimana fed her family of six “black flour,” a low-quality cassava root that many here have resorted to eating because they can’t afford anything else.

在中非国家蒲隆地（译注：该国首都布琼布拉[Bujumbura]位于坦干伊喀湖[Lake Tanganyika]湖畔）滨湖的首都内，四十岁的露西．纳希玛纳用俗称「黑面粉」的劣质树薯磨的粉来养活一家六口，很多当地人也都被迫吃这种他们唯一能负担得起的食物。

Thousands of miles away, in the port city of Tianjin, China, physician Ning Aimin scanned the shelves of her supermarket for yogurt, a food that was practically unheard-of here a decade ago but has become a favorite of many of China’s newly affluent.

场景再拉到数千哩以外的中国港市天津，医生宁爱民（音）浏览着超市货架想找优格，这种十年前听都没听过的食品如今已成为许多中国新富阶级的最爱。

On a chilly highway outside Gualeguaychu, Argentina, 10 trucks carrying enough rice to feed 3 million people sat stranded on the side of the road, casualties of a 100-day-long farm strike that paralyzed that country’s giant grain industry.

场景再转到阿根廷圭勒圭楚市外冷飕飕的公路上，停靠在路边的十辆卡车，虽然满载可喂饱三百万人的米粮，现在却沦为百日农业大罢工的受害者，这场罢工瘫痪了阿根廷规模庞大的粮食业。

Supply and demand 供需失调

These three episodes, all occurring on the same day, are interconnecting pieces of what’s emerged as one of the biggest challenges facing the planet: how to feed humanity in this age of skyrocketing food and energy prices. The problem is a global one, in which a breakdown anywhere in the food chain sets dire consequences in motion. The root causes range from rising consumption in Asia to growing biofuel production in the United States and Europe to dwindling supplies of water in the Middle East.

上述三个插曲全都发生在同一天，也都是地球面临最大挑战之一的环环相扣的环结：这个挑战就是如何能在食物和能源价格飙涨之际，喂饱全人类。这是个全球性的问题，如果食物链的任何环节崩解了，就会引发一连串极严重的后果，而整个问题的根源出于亚洲消耗的食粮大增、欧美生质燃料的产量增加（译注：例如美国大多使用玉米作为生质燃料的原料，使可供作食粮的谷物减少，而生质燃料原料种植土地也等于在和谷物争地等），乃至于中东水供应锐减（译注：中东地区水源问题日益严重，当地在用水和种植谷物间形成两难局面，缺水难以生产谷物，而种植谷物又会使缺水问题雪上加霜）等因素。

“The world is running now to keep up with demand,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, a grain analyst with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. “Any interruption in the global picture affects supplies.” Already, some 800 million people around the world suffer from chronic food shortages, and millions more could go hungry because of the widening food crisis. And the problem is long-term, as the world’s food-production machine is failing to keep up with rising demand.

「如今全球为赶上需求的脚步而疲于奔命，」「联合国粮农组织」谷物分析师亚多雷萨．雅巴席安指出，「全球任何环节若是被中断，都会影响到粮食的供应。」全球各地已有约八亿人口长期遭受食物短缺之苦，而随着食物危机扩大蔓延，可能还会有数以百万计的人将因而挨饿。这是个长期性的问题，出于世界粮食产量机制跟不上需求增大所致。

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flour [flaʊr] n. 面粉；（任何谷类磨成的）粉

cassava [kəˋsɑvə] n.【植】树薯；树薯粉 a plant with large roots that can be eaten

resort [rɪˋzɔrt] v. 依靠，凭借，求助[（+to）]

stranded [ˋstrændɪd] adj. 滞留的

casualty [ˋkæʒjʊəltɪ] n. （事故、灾难等的）死者；伤者；受害人; 意外事故，不幸事故

biofuel [ˈbaɪəfjʊəl] n. 生物燃料（指曾经为活质的燃料，如煤）a fuel that is produced from things that grow

dwindling [ˈdwɪndlɪŋ] adj. 越来越少的; 越来越弱的

keep up with 保持同一速度; 跟上(形势) to continue at the same level or pace

picture [ˋpɪktʃɚ] n. 局面，状况

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The U.N. organization estimates that the problem won’t go away for five to 10 years, and that’s only if farmers around the world come up with new technology to increase efficiencies and boost production to meet the rising needs. “The hope is that these high prices will inspire more production around the world,” Abbassian said. “During this transition, however, people in poor countries are going to be the most affected.”

「联合国粮农组织」估计，粮食问题在五到十年内都会挥之不去，而这个估计所依据的基础是，全球农业生产者足以研发出新科技好增加效率和产能以迎合高涨的需求，但如果这个基础无法实现的话，问题可能还会延续更久。「我们希望，高昂的价格能诱使全球各地生产更多食粮，」雅巴席安指出，「不过，在青黄不接的过渡时期中，贫穷国家的人民将会是遭受最大冲击的一群。」

That means folks such as Nahimana, who said that her monthly food budget of about $100 bought only about two-thirds of what it used to, will have meals for the family that are smaller and incredibly basic. They usually eat just once a day, like most families in Bujumbura these days. Nahimana hasn’t bought vegetables for several days, because soaring gas prices have made cabbage and other greens, which must be trucked in from the countryside, far too expensive.

这意味着像纳希玛纳这些民众，家里餐桌上的食物份量将会更少，而且仅能应应付基本所需。纳希玛纳表示，她每月花在购买食物上的预算是一百美元左右，（译注：但由于粮食涨价了，）如今能买到的量就只有过去的三分之二左右，使得他们家近来每天通常只吃一餐，就和布琼布拉大多数家庭一样。纳希玛纳已经好几天都没买青菜了，因为汽油涨价连带使得必须用卡车从乡下运来卖的甘蓝菜和其他蔬菜价格也变得水涨船高。

In need of a solution 亟需解决之道

In a recent report, the Africa Progress Panel, a group of experts chaired by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, warned: “Unless some way can be found to halt and reverse the current trend in food prices, there will be a significant increase in hunger, malnutrition, and in infant and child mortality.”

「非洲进展小组」最近发布报告警告说：「除非能想出办法来遏止和逆转目前食物价格高涨的趋势，否则包括饥荒、营养失调、婴幼儿死亡率等问题都将大幅增加。」「非洲进小组」是由专家所组成，并由「联合国」前秘书长安南担任主席。

Despite the hopes of food experts, however, the world’s farmers are facing an ever-tougher battle to produce more to feed families such as Nahimana’s. As panic has rippled through some corners of the global grain market, prices for grains have grown more volatile. That frightens farmers already dealing with soaring costs for fertilizer, herbicides and fuel. Some wonder whether they should plant again and risk a sudden drop in prices.

即使粮食专家仍满怀希望，但全球农民在努力生产更多粮食以喂饱像纳希玛纳这类的家庭之际，却同时也面临着愈来愈艰难的苦战，因为全球谷物市场的某些地区已逐渐引发恐慌，谷物价愈来愈变动不定，也使得原本已经和肥料、除草剂及燃料涨价奋战的农民更加害怕，有些人开始怀疑，究竟该不该再播种，因为这样可能会冒着粮食价格突下挫的风险。

−by Jack Chang

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