VOA标准英语2012--Report: Africa Agricultural Reforms Could Ensure Food Security

Report: Africa Agricultural Reforms Could Ensure Food Security

Experts say Africa needs agricultural market reforms if it’s going to overcome food shortages and high prices. A new report outlines what it calls high payoff, low-cost solutions.
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA, and the International Livestock¹ Research Institute say there are “substantial inefficiencies” in trade, transportation, communication, credit and storage in Africa.
At the mercy of the gods
“Some of the problems are weather related. There is a major drought or a flood or locusts². It happened in West Africa. The farmers have no surplus to sell,” said Anne Mbaabu of Kenya, AGRA’s director for market access.
The report says few African farmers use irrigation systems.
“As long as they are dependent on the weather, rain-fed agriculture, then you are at the mercy of the gods,” she said.
It’s estimated seven out of 10 Africans make their living in farming.
“One year you might be having a bumper³ crop and the market is not ready to take the surpluses. The next year you end up with an acute shortage,” said Mbaabu.
The report also says there’s no comprehensive regional trade policy. Mbaabu says one leader could threaten food security by taking unilateral action to withhold⁴ his country’s food reserves.
“One government may wake up and say no food exports because we think we are going to have a deficit⁵. That throws the whole region in kind of a spin. And the reason they’re doing this basically because they don’t have food information or evidence-based data to let them know what food is available in their country or not available,” she said.
High-payoff, low-cost
The report estimates the continent’s market for milk, meat, maize⁶, rice, sorghum⁷ and millet⁸ is worth $150 billion a year. It says that “far exceeds” Africa’s market for internationally traded cash crops like coffee, tea and flowers.
Recommendations include so-called high payoff, low cost solutions. These include the use of mobile phones to provide farmers with the latest market prices or to receive the latest weather forecast.
Mbaabu said, “Very few countries are able to offer that because their weather stations are either dilapidated or very few.”
Phone messages could advise farmers on choosing the best crops and when to plant them.
Another recommendation to help ensure food security is the use of storage facilities and warehouses⁹ to protect against spoilage¹⁰, pests and plant diseases. It’s estimated between 25 and 50 percent of African farm crops rot in the field and that tens of millions of dollars’ worth of milk becomes spoiled.
If the recommendations are implemented¹¹?
“The benefits are enormous. It would be a food-secure continent. Every household would have enough to eat, better health. You have fewer deaths from malnutrition¹². You have fewer children going to bed hungry. On the other hand, farmers would be able to have some income from selling their surplus produce,” she said.
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa says it has invested $30 million over the last four years to improve agricultural market opportunities.

1 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

2 locusts   

n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树

参考例句：

• a swarm of locusts 一大群蝗虫
• In no time the locusts came down and started eating everything. 很快蝗虫就飞落下来开始吃东西，什么都吃。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

4 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。

5 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

6 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

7 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

8 millet   

n.小米，谷子

参考例句：

• Millet is cultivated in the middle or lower reaches of the Yellow River.在黄河中下游地区，人们种植谷子。
• The high quality millet flour was obtained through wet milling.采用湿磨法获得了高品质的小米粉。

9 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。

10 spoilage   

n.（食物等）变质，损坏

参考例句：

• He was determined to track down the cause of food spoilage.他决心查出食品腐烂的原因。
• The principal methods of avoiding spoilage are the use of pure yeast strains as starters.防止啤酒变坏的主要方法是用纯酵母菌株发酵。

11 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

12 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。