Fighting a Food Crisis That Threatens to Spread Hunger and Unrest

Fighting a Food Crisis That Threatens to Spread Hunger and Unrest
High grain prices are hitting the poor the hardest, and leading to protests and riots in the developing world. Transcript of radio broadcast:
14 April 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Food inflation has led to growing protests in developing countries. In Haiti, the government fell Saturday after riots in which several people died.

Some rice-producing countries have cut exports to protect their own supplies. World Bank President Robert Zoellick said last week that rice prices have risen around seventy-five percent in just two months, to near historical levels. Wheat prices have risen one hundred twenty percent in the past year.

Farmers are planting more wheat and rice. But population growth is raising demand. So is the use of food crops to produce biofuels. At the same time, record oil prices have meant higher costs for petroleum-based fertilizers and for energy and transportation.

Food also costs more because more people are eating meat and dairy products in growing economies like India and China. More grain is going to feed cattle.

Weather has also pushed up prices. For example, Australia, a major wheat exporter, faces a drought.

High food prices hit the poor the hardest. Agricultural economist Christopher Barrett at Cornell University says many poor farmers use more of their crops than they sell. He says more investment is needed in agricultural research.

What is needed, says another expert, Gerald Nelson at the University of Illinois, is another Green Revolution to increase productivity.

This past weekend, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held their spring meetings in Washington. The bank president said hunger, malnutrition and food policy were a central issue.

The United Nations World Food Program has appealed for five hundred million dollars by May first. Bob Zoellick said donor countries had promised almost half of the money, but that was not enough.

He said a doubling of food prices over the last three years could push one hundred million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty. And that could hurt future generations.

I.M.F. chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the real problem is a food deficit which will probably last for years. He says it can be argued that there are good reasons, connected to climate change, to try to push countries to substitute some kind of biofuel for oil.

But he says nations have to balance the production of biofuel from food crops with biofuel from nonfood resources. Some of the finance ministers in Washington said using food for fuel is a crime against humanity.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Jim Tedder.

----------------------------Google Translate



打一场粮食危机威胁散布饥饿和不安
高粮食价格打到穷人最难的，而领导的抗议和暴动，在发展中世界。全文电台广播：
2008年4月14日

这是美国之音特别英语农业部报告。

食品通货膨胀已导致越来越多的抗议是在发展中国家。在海地，政府下跌周六暴动后，其中数人死亡。

一些水稻生产国已削减出口，以保障自己的用品。世界银行总裁罗伯特佐利克上周表示，大米价格已经上涨大约75 ％ ，在短短两个月内，近历史最高水平。小麦价格已经上涨120 ％ ，在过去的一年里。

农民种植更多的小麦和大米。但是，人口增长是提高的需求。那么，是利用粮食作物生产生物燃料。在同一时间内，创纪录的高油价都意味着更高的成本，对于以石油为原料的化肥和能源和运输等。

食物也花费更多，因为更多的人吃的肉类和奶类产品增长的经济体如印度和中国。更多的粮食去饲料养牛。

天气也推高了价格。举例来说，澳洲的一个主要小麦出口国，都面临着干旱。

高粮食价格上涨击中穷人最难的。农业经济学家克里斯托弗巴瑞特，在康奈尔大学的说，许多贫穷的农民更多地使用他们的作物比他们卖的。他说，更多的投资是需要在农业研究。

需要什么，说，另一位专家，杰拉尔德纳尔逊在伊利诺伊大学的，是另一种绿色革命，以提高生产力。

本周末，国际货币基金和世界银行举行春季会议在华盛顿举行。该行行长说，饥饿，营养不良和粮食政策的一个中心问题。

联合国世界粮食计划署呼吁为5.00亿美元，可先。鲍勃佐利克说，捐赠国已经承诺，将近一半的钱，但这是不够的。

他说，一个翻一番的食品价格在过去三年里，可以推亿人，在低收入国家更深陷入贫困。并可能伤害后代。

i.m.f.行政多米尼克施特劳斯-卡恩说，真正的问题是一个缺粮，其中可能会持续数年。他说，可以说有很好的理由，连接到气候变化，试图推动国家替代某些种生物燃料石油。

但是他说，国家要平衡生产生物燃料从粮食作物与生物燃料由非食品资源。一些财长在华盛顿表示，用食物，燃料，是一种危害人类罪。

这也是该美国之音特别英语农业部报告，写jerilyn沃森。我吉姆tedder 。