VOA常速英语2016--美国对马拉维进行粮食援助（在线收听）

This month, U.S. Ambassador to Malawi Virginia Palmer announced a new United States donation of 23 million dollars to assist the Malawian people in need of humanitarian food assistance. This additional donation is in response to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee's report that 6.5 million Malawians need humanitarian food assistance to alleviate suffering through March 2017. All of these funds will be channeled through the United Nations World Food Program.

Of the 23 million dollars, 18 million will be used to help fill deficits in pulses and super cereal needed for the 2016-2017 Food Insecurity Response Plan, while 5 million dollars will be used to purchase ready-to-use therapeutic food for HIV patients currently being treated with Anti-Retroviral Therapy, or ART.

The latter is particularly important to preserve gains made to date in HIV treatment, as malnourished patients tend to discontinue ART without access to food to ameliorate the treatment's side effects.

To further preserve development gains in other sectors, the United States government has also re-programmed 12 million dollars of previously planned investments in agricultural development and climate change adaptation programs.

These were longer-term investments that now have been re-directed to enhance the United States responsiveness to the dire food security situation Malawi currently faces. They are primarily food-for-work activities, whereby beneficiaries will receive food for their contributions to resilience-building measures, such as afforestation, soil and water conservation, and small-scale irrigation.

The additional assistance made available to Malawi brings the United States' total contribution to the 2016-2017 Food Insecurity Response Plan to nearly 118 million dollars, equivalent to about 30 percent of the Plan's 395 million dollars estimated cost.

Ambassador Palmer added that the United States will continue to work with the government of Malawi to break the cycle of food insecurity.

“The United States Government continues to stand by Malawians in their time of need. But, together,” said Ambassador Palmer,” we recognize that policy and market predictability are critical if Malawi's farmers are to become entrepreneurs, if agribusinesses are to invest, and if Malawi is to transform its agriculture sector from a source of vulnerability into an engine for growth.”

本月，美国驻马拉维大使维吉尼亚?帕尔默（Virginia Palmer）宣布美国再次捐助2300万美元，以帮助需要人道主义粮食援助的马拉维人民。这笔额外的捐助是继马拉维脆弱性评估委员会发布报告后发起的，该报告指出，从现在至2017年3月份之间，马拉维有650万人需要人道主义粮食援助以减轻疾苦。这笔捐助资金将从联合国世界粮食计划署划拨。

在这2300万美元的援助资金中，有1800万美元将助力弥合2016-2017年《粮食不足应急预案》中粮食豆类和超级谷物方面的赤字，而另外500万美元将用于为现在正接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）的艾滋病患者购置现成的治疗食品。

这500万美元的援助资金对于保护目前所取得的艾滋病治疗成果尤为重要，因为如果没有了粮食来缓解治疗过程中的副作用，那么营养不良的艾滋病病人就很有可能中断抗逆转录病毒治疗。

为了进一步保护其他领域所取得的发展成果，美国政府还重新规划了此前计划拨给农业发展与适应气候变化项目的1200万美元投资。

这些长期投资如今均被美国政府重新规划，以提升美国对马拉维所面临粮食不安全现状的响应力。目前，这些援助资金的粮食补给以多劳多得的形式分配，这样，接受援助者就能根据自己对构筑抗灾力举措的贡献来获取食物，贡献形式可为植树造林、保持水土、小规模灌区改造。

向马拉维提供的额外援助资金使美国对2016-2017年《粮食不足应急预案》的总贡献额达到近1.18亿美元，是该预案3.95亿美元预估成本的30%左右。

大使帕尔默补充说，美国将继续与马拉维政府一道，打破粮食不足的恶性循环。

“美国政府会继续在马拉维人民需要帮助的时候支持他们。但是，我们都认识到，”帕尔默说，“如果马拉维的农民们想要成为企业家的话，如果农业综合企业要进行投资的话，如果马拉维将其农业从脆弱不堪转变为经济增长引擎的话，那么政策和市场的可预见性是非常重要的因素。”