Food prices are at record highs, and experts are sounding alarms about the potential for civil unrest. The Obama administration has made improving developing world food security an important foreign policy goal.

　　粮食价格达到创纪录高位，专家们发出关于可能发生社会动乱的警告。奥巴马政府把改善发展中国家粮食安全作为一项重要外交政策目标。

　　But rather than relying solely on governments and civil society groups as in the past, the administration is highlighting the role the profit motive can play in economic development.

　　Mozambique's poultry boom

　　At a recent congressional briefing, the growth of Mozambique's poultry industry was cited as one example.

　　Until recently, domestic poultry farmers were unable to compete with imports.

　　莫桑比克饲养业主德雷克.艾克谢维尔说，本土肉禽业一直不能跟进口产品竞争，部分原因是业者们的家禽饲养方法。

　　Mozambican poultry farmer Derek Xavier says part of the reason was the way farmers raised their birds.

　　"We just used to have them at home," he says. "We had no medication, no vaccination. And obviously, with no good treatment, the chickens are always thin, and no good meat."

　　他说：“我们以前只是在家饲养。没有药，没有疫苗。显而易见，饲养方法不好，鸡就很瘦，肉质不好。”

　　It did not help that foreign producers were using Mozambique as a market of last resort to dump nearly spoiled chicken.

　　外国生产商把莫桑比克作为最后的市场来倾销肉鸡，也无助于提高本地产品的竞争力。

　　Industry overhaul

　　That all started to change in 2005. An industry transformation began with help from the U.S. government, the business-focused development group TechnoServe, and the U.S. agribusiness giant, Cargill.

　　2005年，这一切都开始改变了。在美国政府、技术服务公司和美国农业巨头企业卡吉尔公司的帮助下，家禽饲养业的改造开始了。

　　Mozambican farmers were organized. Vaccination, education, and disease monitoring programs were developed. Trade regulations were changed to prevent import dumping.

　　莫桑比克饲养场主们组织起来了。疫苗接种、教育培训和疾病监测项目得到推展。贸易规章修改了，以阻止进口倾销。这些都取得了显著效果。

　　The overhaus brought about dramatic changes, according to Florencia Cipriano, chief veterinarian for the Mozambique government. She told the briefing that in 2005, domestic producers raised only a third of the broiler chickens sold.

　　佛罗伦西亚.西普利亚诺是莫桑比克政府的首席兽医。她最近在美国国会的一次简报会上说，2005年，莫桑比克国内养殖者只饲养了该国销售的全部烤鸡的三分之一。

　　"Today," she said, "Mozambique broilers outnumber imports three to one."

　　“而今天，莫桑比克国产鸡是进口鸡的两倍。”

　　Feeding all those chickens has also spurred a roughly four-fold growth in the domestic feed grain industry, she says. Cipriano credits the chicken boom with creating about 90,000 jobs, and helping tens of thousands of small farmers improve their incomes.

　　西普利亚诺说，饲养所有这些鸡也致使国内饲料业增长了4倍。养鸡业的兴旺创造了大约9万个工作，帮助成千上万小型饲养场主提高了收入。

　　Business meets development aid

　　"We want to work more with the private sector than we have in the past," said Gregory Gottlieb, head of the food security bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development. "This time around, I think we want to look more at economic growth. Real economic growth."

　　他说：“我们希望比前更多地跟私营部门合作。目前，我想我们希望更加注重经济增长。真正的经济增长。”

　　Gottlieb told the briefing that real economic growth comes from focusing on the profit motive for everyone from farmers and their suppliers to retailers who sell their products, and the partnership with Cargill and TechnoServe is a good example.

　　戈特列说，真正的经济增长产生于每个相关者的利润动机，从饲养场主及其供应商到销售他们产品的零售商。

　　Profit is the reason Cargill gets involved in development, says the company's director of international business relations, Devry Boughner.

　　卡吉尔公司国际业务关系主任德夫利.鲍夫纳说，利润是该公司参与其中的原因。

　　"That's not a bad thing in our mind," she says. "Because as we make profits in these countries and invest overseas, we're able to re-invest and re-partner and re-up our commitment to global food security."

　　他说：“这在我们看来不是坏事。因为当我们在这些国家获利和投资的时候，我们就能够再投资、再合作和再继续履行我们对全球粮食安全的义务。”

　　Aid budget cuts loom

　　But the Obama administration's commitment to global food security faces a challenge as lawmakers consider the next federal budget. The administration dramatically increased funding for agricultural development with a three-point-five billion dollar initiative known as "Feed the Future."

　　不过，在议员们审议下个年度的联邦预算案之际，奥巴马政府对全球粮食安全承担的义务面临挑战。奥巴马政府提出一个叫作“喂养未来”的35亿美元计划，大幅度增加了农业发展资金。

　　But with U.S. unemployment at 9 percent and a $14 trillion national debt, Republicans took over the House of Representatives this fall pledging to cut federal spending.

　　在美国失业率高达9%和背负14万亿美元国债的情况下，去年11月获得众议院控制权的共和党人誓言削减联邦开支。

　　"Moral arguments aside, we must stop sending hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign governments when our own economy is in shambles," says Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

　　保罗说：“且不论道义之争，在我们自己经济都不稳的时候，我们必须停止把数千亿美元送给外国政府。”

　　Paul is widely considered to be outside the political mainstream on most issues. But a recent Gallup poll found nearly 60 percent of Americans favor cutting foreign aid.

　　保罗被普遍认为在多数议题上置身政治主流之外。不过，最近盖洛普调查机构的民调发现，将近60%美国人赞同削减对外援助。

　　Business case for aid

　　At the congressional briefing, Cargill's Devry Boughner made the business case that aid is in the company's and the country's long-term interest. Look at South Korea, she said. It took time, but development aid turned that country into an economic powerhouse and a market for U.S. goods.

　　在国会简报会上，卡吉尔公司的德夫利.鲍夫纳以商业理由来说明援助符合公司和国家的长远利益。她说，看看韩国。这需要时间，可是发展援助把那个国家变成了经济大国，成为美国货物的一个市场。

　　"We're now looking to take this relationship to stronger commercial ties, which will translate to stronger economic growth here in the United States," she added.

　　A big free trade agreement with South Korea is currently before the Senate that backers say will create jobs in the U.S. In the long run, Boughner says, when private businesses can help transform industries, as Cargill helped to do in Mozambique, aid can become trade and provide a valuable return on investments.

　　一个大型美韩自由贸易协议目前正在参议院等待审议。支持者说，该协议将在美国创造就业机会。鲍夫纳指出，长远来看，当私营企业能够帮助改造一些行业，如卡吉尔公司在莫桑比克所为，援助就能够成为贸易，使投资获得有价值的回报。