VOA常速英语2015--非洲粮食安全现状的地区差异

非洲粮食安全现状的地区差异

A new report on Africa’s food security showed regional differences in progress. Western Africa led the continent in reducing the number of undernourished people since the early 1990s. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has released the first edition of the Regional Overview 1 of Food Insecurity in Africa.

非洲粮食安全最新报告表明不同地区的进步程度有差异，自20世纪90年代初，在减少营养不良人口数量方面，西非在非洲大陆是表现最好的。联合国粮农组织发布了《2015年非洲粮食不安全地区概览》第一版。

Africa, as other parts of the world, has had two main targets for food security: the Millennium 2 Development Goal of reducing by half the proportion of undernourished people – and the tougher 1996 World Food Summit target of reducing by half the actual number of hungry people.

像世界其他地区一样，非洲在粮食安全方面有两个主要目标：将营养不良人口比例减半的千年发展目标和更严格的世界粮食峰会目标，即将饥饿人口数量减半。

The findings may seem contradictory 3 at first. For example, the prevalence of undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa declined from 33 percent in the early 1990s to 23 percent today. So, in this case, prevalence is the percentage of Africa’s growing population affected 4 by undernourishment. That’s gone down and that’s good.

这些新发表一看可能有冲突，比如，从20世纪90年代初到现在，撒哈拉南部非洲的营养不良人口的盛行率从33%下降到23%。在这里，盛行率就是非洲日益增多的营养不良人口的比例，这个比例已经降低，这一点很好。

However, the FAO report also showed that despite a smaller percentage of the overall population being undernourished, the actual number of undernourished people has increased. It’s risen from nearly 176 million in the early 1990s to 220 million today.

然而，粮农组织的报告还指出，尽管整体人口的营养不良比例在变小，但实际上的营养不良人口数量事实上增加了，从20世纪90年初到现在，这个数字从近1.76亿增加到2.2亿。

FAO Assistant Director General Bukar Tijani looks at the overall findings and sees bright prospects 5 for Africa’s food security.

粮农组织助理总干事蒂贾尼看了整体报告结果，认为非洲的粮食安全有着光明的前景。

“There is a lot of improvement. Heads of state of all the African countries have made a very concrete resolve in the declaration in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea,” he said.

“已经有了很大改善，非洲各国的国家元首们已经在赤道几内亚的马拉博表示了坚定的决心。”

The long-titled Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation 6 for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods 7 was approved a year ago.

加快农业发展和转型以促进共同繁荣和改善生计的马拉博宣言一年前得到批准通过。

Tijani said, “Before that time there had been high level meetings and there were agreements to get a roadmap going back to the Maputo Declaration of 2003. Governments will make sure they focus more, in terms of policy, in terms of more investments.”

蒂贾尼说，“在此之前已经举行过一些高层会议，会上决定采取路线图以回到2003年的马拉博宣言上来，各国政府将确保更加注重政策方面，进行更多的投资。”

The 2003 Maputo Declaration called on African governments to invest 10 percent of their national budgets in agriculture.

2003年的马拉博宣言呼吁非洲各国政府将国家预算的10%用于农业。

The FAO’s Regional Overview of Food Insecurity said Angola, Djibouti, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Mali and Sao Tome and Principe “met the relevant Millennium Development Goal of halving 8 the proportion of the population suffering from undernourishment and the World Food Summit target of halving the absolute numbers of the hungry.”

粮农组织的《粮食不安全地区概览》称安哥拉、喀麦隆、加蓬、加纳、马里和圣多美与普林希比共和国“实现了将营养不良人口减半的相关千年发展目标和将饥饿绝对人口数量减半的世界粮食峰会目标。”

It said that West Africa made “particular strides.” Tijani said the region “reduced the ranks of the hungry by almost 11 million.” He described that as “significant progress despite rapid population growth and recurrent droughts in Sahel countries.”

该概览称西非进步尤其巨大，蒂贾尼说该地区“将饥饿人口减少了近1100万”。他说尽管萨赫勒地带国家人口发展迅速且经常出现旱灾，这已经是巨大的进步。

The FAO report said Eastern and Southern Africa “made some progress,” while Middle Africa is “lagging behind” regarding both the MDG and World Food Summit targets.

粮农组织的报告称东非和南非“也取得一些进步”，而中非在千年发展目标和世界粮食峰会目标方面“比较落后”。

Tijani highlighted some of the current obstacles to African food security.

蒂贾尼指出非洲粮食安全目前面临的一些障碍。

“The effect of climate change, civil strife 9, epidemics 10 like Ebola and others – and also some insecurities --these are part of those phenomena 11 and things that are making food security very difficult.”

“气候变化、国内冲突、埃博拉等流行病，以及一切不安定因素，所有这些都是给粮食安全带来困难的现象和问题。”

For example, the report said a 20 percent rise in hungry people in East Africa is blamed on “unfavorable climate and drought conditions,” while the doubling of hungry people in Central Africa is “largely due to civil strife.”

比如，该报告称东非饥饿人口增加20%是由于“糟糕的气候和干旱”，中非饥饿人口翻倍“在很大程度上归咎于国内冲突”。

The findings also showed Africa’s poverty rate declined by 23 percent between 1993 and 2011.

该发现还表明，从1993年到2011年间，非洲的贫困率下降了23%。

As for children, the number of underweight children has declined in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 20 years, but there’s a growing number of children under five who are overweight.

对儿童来说，过去20年间，撒哈拉南部非洲的体重不足儿童数量已经减少，但有越来越多的五岁以下儿童超重。

Health officials said the dual 12 problems of undernourishment and obesity 13 both can be blamed on poor nutrition, such as high calorie but low nutrient 14 foods. Too much sugar and fat have been blamed in many cases.

卫生官员称营养不良和超重这个双重问题都可归咎于营养糟糕，比如高热量但低营养的食物，在很多情况下都要归因于太多的糖和脂肪。