VOA常速英语2008年-Ethiopian Farmers Have New Market for Products

By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
03 March 2008

Ethiopian agriculture is about to take a giant step forward from the age of the donkey cart to the digital age. At least that is the hope of a group of visionaries who are launching a revolution in how Ethiopia's farmers market their crops. VOA's Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa reports the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange is modeled on the market that shaped American agriculture, but with a few new twists.

Animal-drawn wagons¹ still pull much of Ethiopia's farm produce along dirt roads to local markets. That is the way it has been for centuries. In a nation where agriculture has always been the backbone² of the economy, farms of less than one hectare in size produce 95 percent of the total agricultural output.

But only 25 percent of that output reaches the market, which means there is very little opportunity for profit. And when they do take goods to market, farmers are at the mercy of merchants, because they have no information about prevailing³ prices.

But all that is set to change.

Construction workers in central Addis Ababa are putting the final touches on the trading pit for the ECX, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, which founders⁴ hope will transform Ethiopia from an economic basket case to a bread basket.

The ECX will be linked to a network of warehouses⁵ around the country where farmers can store their crops. Television screens set up in 20 towns will provide farmers with the data they need to make informed decisions about when to sell and at what price.

The force behind this eagerly awaited revolution is Ethiopian-born, American educated economist⁶ Eleni Gabre-Madhin. She says she developed the model for an Ethiopian commodity exchange while writing her doctoral thesis. The big break came when the idea won backing from Ethiopia's top leaders.

"About two years ago we kind of had a breakthrough, where the government said 'yes', we really want to consider this idea of a commodity exchange, which I had written up about in my thesis 10 years ago, so that was something I had really been dreaming of doing for more than a decade," she explained.

Her idea won immediate⁷ support from donors⁸, who see it as a way to help small Ethiopian farmers get access to market forces that have brought prosperity to farmers in other parts of the world. Ten million dollars in pledges were recieved in two weeks.

Initial reaction in Ethiopia has also been overwhelming. Seats on the exchange went on sale a month ago, and have already surpassed the goal. Gabre-Madhin is hopeful of an overnight revolution in the country's agricultural marketing⁹ system.

"I hope the overnight effect will be people will rally to this market," Gabre-Madhin said, "that the early adopters will have a very demonstrable success in terms of reducing their costs and reducing their risks and applauding this new institution as a way to solve their problems in the market, and that leads to a vibrant¹⁰ adopting of this market as the market of choice."

Gabre-Madhin says the overall goal is to dramatically increase farm incomes while lowering consumer prices.

"The long term success for us is to increase the share of marketed surplus out of the total amount of production from a fairly low level of about 25 percent of production reaches the market to a higher rate of commercialization," she said. "We would like to see a doubling of the commercialization create from the current 25 percent for domestic grains to about 50 percent in five years. The other thing we would like to see is a reduction of the marketing margin¹¹. That is the difference between what the farmer gets at the farm gate, the farm gate price, and what the consumer pays at the table."

She says the ECX is based on the Chicago exchange that transformed American agriculture 160 years ago, but with an Indian twist. There will be controls to ensure the exchange does not become a club of wealthy brokers¹² who control access to the market.

"We looked at the Chicago model versus¹³ the India model, and have seen that the India model is more democratic in terms of leveling the playing field," she said. "Which means unlike the Chicago model, which is the model prevailing in most of the world, where a few players who become very wealthy because everybody uses their services to access the market, we have taken the approach that what is more appropriate for our country from a policy perspective is to start with a few members, but to grow these members aggressively."

The opening of the new exchange has unleashed¹⁴ a torrent¹⁵ of entrepreneurial spirit. Gabre-Madhin says people from all over are contacting her to propose ideas for capitalizing on the opportunities, in the same way American entrepreneur, now New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg got rich with his wire service providing market information.

"This stuff has that effect on people. Every day. Now I have got two guys. Yesterday I was having emails. One guy from Sweden or somewhere saying I am going to be the Bloomberg of Africa with your exchange," she said. "I am going to take your prices and feed them to websites all over Africa. I am going to this, I am setting up a website. Literally¹⁶ it is just incredible how people are just, whoosh¹⁷, thinking all sorts of things. So it is great.

The revolution is set to begin when the ECX opens its doors later this month.

1 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

2 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

3 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

4 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

5 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

10 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

11 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

12 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

13 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

14 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

16 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

17 whoosh   

v.飞快地移动，呼

参考例句：

• It goes whoosh up and whoosh down.它呼一下上来了，呼一下又下去了。
• Whoosh!The straw house falls down.呼！稻草房子倒了。