Africa Eyes Boosting Rice Crop to Fight Hunger

非洲寄望促进稻米生产对抗饥饿

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Researchers are developing ways to increase rice production in Africa as part of efforts to fight hunger. Their work was discussed at the African Rice Congress in Cameroon last month. Experts say 60 percent of the thirty million tons of rice used in Africa is imported from Asia.

研究人员正在设法提高非洲稻米产量作为消除饥饿措施的一部分。上月在喀麦隆举行的非洲水稻大会对他们的工作进行了讨论。专家们说，在非洲消耗的3千万吨稻米中，有60%是从亚洲进口的。

They estimate that Africa spends $5 billion on rice imports every year. And yet the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says they are still rice shortages on the continent.

他们估计，非洲每年要花费50亿美元用于进口稻米。然而联合国粮农组织（FAO）表示，非洲大陆仍然存在稻米短缺。

Rice production was reduced in some countries after the economic crisis of the 1990s. Samantana Mark is director general of Cameroon's rice production company, SEMRY.

在20世纪90年代的经济危机后，一些国家的稻米产量有所下降。马克（Samantana Mark）是喀麦隆稻米生产企业SEMRY的总干事。

He says that with beginning of the crisis, African countries stopped making investments in rice production and in the marketing of rice. Issues like climate change and extreme temperatures have slowed rice production, especially in areas south of the Saharan desert.

他说，危机爆发伊始非洲国家就停止了在稻米生产和稻米营销上的投资。气候变化和极端温度等问题也延缓了稻米生产，特别是在撒哈拉以南地区。

Plant disease is also a problem. But some African researchers say they have developed rice plants that can grow in areas with little rainfall.

农作物病害也是一个问题。但一些非洲研究人员表示，他们已经开发出可以在降雨稀少地区种植的水稻植株。

Nigerian-born Adekoya Madinat works with the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

尼日利亚出生的Adekoya Madinat就职于上海农科院。

"With this research we try to see how much water exactly is needed for rice production and try to see which genes are actually recruited during the event of droughts. So these genes can be used to develop drought-resistant varieties that can be planted with minimal water and we still have very good yields and food security," said Madinat.

她说，“通过这项研究，我们试图看一下水稻生产究竟需要多少水，以及在干旱时期哪些基因被补充了进来。这样，这些基因就可以用于开发能够种植在缺水地区的抗旱品种，这样我们的粮食产量就会很不错，粮食安全也没问题。”

Delegates to the congress called for great mechanization of African agriculture, and they agree that investing in rice production requires a lot of money.

大会代表呼吁非洲农业大幅机械化，他们也认同，投资稻米生产需要大量资金。

Robert Guei works for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. He says that investments in rice production should be a top issue for African governments seeking to end hunger and poverty.

Robert Guei就职于联合国粮农组织。他表示，投资稻米生产应该成为寻求解决饥饿和贫穷的非洲国家的首要问题。

"African governments have to support small companies. These people have to be encouraged so governments have to come out with good policies whereby these companies are subsidized. Help them to have credits to banks and loans so that they can produce these varieties of rice and distribute and this is what FAO is doing now, talking to governments to set up policies," said Guei.

他说，“非洲政府必须支持小企业，这些人应当受到鼓励。因此政府必须出台好政策，这些企业由此获得补贴。政府要帮助他们获得银行信贷，使他们能够生产这些品种的稻米。粮农组织正在和政府商量制定政策。”

Experts say that currently, African countries produce about 12 million tons of rice per year.

专家们表示，目前，非洲国家每年生产大约1200万吨稻米。