Ethiopian scientist was named on Thursday as the winner of the 2009 World Food Prize in an event at the U.S. State Department. Ejeta, a faculty member at Purdue University in the Midwestern U.S. state of Indiana, was honored for his work on drought and weed-resistant varieties of sorghum.
埃塞俄比亚科学家埃西塔星期四在美国国务院获得2009年世界粮食奖。埃西塔在美国中西部印第安纳州的普渡大学任教，他由于对高粱品种的耐旱及抗杂草特性的研究而得此殊荣。
Ejeta is only the second African to win the Food Prize since its creation in 1986 by Nobel Peace Laureate Norman Borlaug, the American agronomist credited with starting a so-called "Green Revolution" with high-yield wheat varieties.
美国农学家博尔劳格以高产小麦品种开创“绿色革命”而赢得了诺贝尔和平奖，并于1986年创设食品奖，从那时以来，埃西塔只是第二个赢得这一奖项的非洲人。
The Ethiopian geneticist and seed-breeder, who joined the Purdue University faculty in 1984, is being honored for his work in developing strains of sorghum that are resistant to drought and the parasitic weed Striga, which has been a plague to farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
这位埃塞俄比亚遗传学家和育种家在1984年到普渡大学任教，他这次得到世界粮食奖是因为他培育的高粱品种具有耐旱性并能抵制寄生杂草斯特赖加的衍生，这种杂草是整个非洲撒哈拉以南地区农民面临的大难题。
Ejeta, who was not present at the State Department event, will receive the award on October 15 in a ceremony by the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa.
埃西塔没有出席美国国务院的授奖典礼，他将在10月15号前去在爱奥华州得梅因的世界粮食奖基金会出席庆典。
The president of the foundation, former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia Kenneth Quinn, said Ejeta's work with sorghum has benefited millions of people in Africa and beyond.
该基金会主席、前美国驻柬埔寨大使肯尼思.奎因说，埃西塔培育高粱品种的工作为非洲等地几百万人民造福。
"He developed and introduced the first sorghum hybrid in Africa in the early 1980s, which was drought tolerant and produced significantly higher yields," said Quinn. "In the 1990s, he conquered the greatest biological constraint to cereal production in Africa - the deadly weed Striga. Having discovered the bio-chemical basis of Striga's parasitic relationship with sorghum, our laureate's breeding program at Purdue produced many sorghum varieties resistant to drought and to Striga with yields 10 times greater than local varieties."
他说：“他在上世纪80年代培育了第一种高粱杂交新品种并且引向非洲 ，这种高粱耐旱，而且产量特高。在上世纪90年代，它克服了非洲谷类生产的最大生物障碍，就是能使庄稼枯死的一种叫斯特赖加的寄生杂草。他发现了斯特赖加寄生于高粱作物的生化基础之后，在普渡大学开展了育种研究项目，培育出许多耐旱并抗杂草的高粱新品种，这些新品种高粱的产量比当地原来的高粱产量增加了十倍。”
The World Food Prize chief was joined on the podium by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who stressed the Obama administration's commitment to attack world hunger, which affects an estimated one billion people.
美国农业部长维尔萨克和美国国务卿克林顿与世界粮食奖的主办人一起坐在讲坛上。克林顿强调，奥巴马政府致力于克服在世界各地估计影响十亿人口的饥荒。
She noted that in addition to developing new sorghum strains, Ejeta worked in India and Sudan on ways to get his improved seeds into the hands of farmers, underscoring the need for a comprehensive approach to repairing what Clinton called a broken global supply chain for food.
她指出，埃西塔除了培育新品种的高粱之外，还在印度和苏丹努力开辟途径，使得他的新品种种子送到农民的手里，这突显修复所谓断裂的全球粮食供应链需要全面兼顾的方式。
"The Obama administration is committed to providing leadership in developing a new global approach to hunger," she said. "For too long, our primary response has been to send emergency aid when the crisis is at its worst. This saves lives, but doesn't address hunger's root causes. It is at best a short-term fix. So we will support the creation of effective, sustainable farming systems in regions around the world where current methods are not working."
克林顿说：“奥巴马政府致力于为开展克服饥饿的全球新方针提供先导作用。在很长一段时间里，我们对饥荒的基本反应只是在危机最糟糕阶段，给予紧急援助。这样做挽救了生命，但是没有解决饥荒的根源。这充其量也只是暂时缓解。所以我们将支持在世界上目前的解救方式无效的那些地区开创有效的、可持续的耕作体系。”
The World Food Prize, judged by a council of advisers that includes former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, carries a $250,000 award. The previous African winner was plant breeder Monty Jones of Sierra Leone who, with Chinese colleague Yuan Longping, was honored in 2004 for work on high-yielding rice varieties.
世界粮食奖的评奖者是一个顾问理事会，其中包括美国前总统卡特和老布什，奖金是25万美元。前一位得奖的非洲人是塞拉利昂的育种家蒙蒂.琼斯，他与中国的育种家袁隆平一起得到了2004年的世界粮食奖，他们得奖是因为培育了高产稻种。 |