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VOA标准英语2008年-Technology Key to Producing More Food

时间:2008-06-06 06:24来源:互联网 提供网友:mayisifani   字体: [ ]
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By Bill Rodgers
Washington
19 May 2008

The Green Revolution is a good example of how technological1 advances can have a dramatic effect on economic development - in this case on food production. Other technological innovations are helping2 to improve agricultural production, from empowering farmers in India to an international effort to breed food staples4 fortified5 with nutritional6 vitamins. VOA's Bill Rodgers has more in this fourth in our series on the impact of technology on the developing world, with additional reporting by Rosyla Kalden & Steve Herman in India, and Luis Ramirez in Thailand.

When farmers in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state harvested their wheat in the past, they usually had to sell to local middlemen at whatever price was offered. Now, thanks to the Internet, they can get higher prices for their crops.

In villages in Uttar Pradesh and eight other states, farmers can go to an Internet kiosk where they have access to a network set up by the India Tobacco Company. On the network, known as e-Choupal, they can check prices and sell their crops online.

In the village of Hathras, the local e-Choupal hub coordinator7, Raj Kumar Sharma, says the Internet has all kinds of uses. He says the benefits of e-Choupal are that they not only get price information but weather forecasts as well. So farmers know in advance when the weather is right to apply pesticides8.

More than 6,000 Indian villages are now connected to the e-Choupal network, an example of how technology is changing the lives of farmers.

The Green Revolution, which got underway in the 1960s, is the most well-known example of how technological advances led to the development of high-yield crops that dramatically boosted farm production. Harvests of rice, wheat and corn increased substantially because of improved seed varieties and the use of fertilizer and pesticides.

"The Green Revolution had an overwhelmingly positive impact in terms of huge increase production in Asia and to some extent in Latin America, significant increases in farmer incomes and contributing to a rapid reduction in poverty and food insecurity in Asia in particular," says Mark Rosegrant, who heads the Environment and Production Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. "It has had some negative side effects, such as increased runoff from fertilizer and pesticides, some overuse of water for irrigation in some areas, but those are much counterbalanced by the positive benefits of the Green Revolution."

Rosegrant says that by the 1990s, productivity gains began to wane9. He says a decline in investment in agriculture also has hurt.

"What you've seen now is more maintenance research and trying to adapt to new pest varieties that come along, new insects that come and attack the varieties," adds Rosegrant. "So there's a lot going on in research, but the investment hasn't been high enough to generate another round of very rapid productivity growth."

However, one promising10 area of research is the effort to develop "biofortified" crops - varieties bred for increased mineral and vitamin content to help reduce malnutrition11.

The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines is breeding strains of rice with high iron and zinc12 concentrations. The edible13 root cassava is being fortified with beta-carotene at the Tropical Agriculture Research Center in Cali, Colombia. Scientists at other research centers are experimenting with breeding varieties of wheat and corn with iron and other vitamins.

The goal of this international research effort, organized under a coalition14 called Harvest Plus, is to improve the nutritional quality of staple3 foods. Bonnie McClafferty, a Harvest Plus communications coordinator, says these biofortified staples will help millions of people in developing countries who do not get enough vitamins in their diet.

"You've got a situation in the developing world where you have millions, if not billions, of people who are micronutrient deficient," says McClafferty. "We often think of hunger and malnutrition in terms of energy or calories, but in truth there are several times the number of people who have micronutrient malnutrition and what that leads to are problems with growth, problems with immune systems, problems with cognitive15 development. It's a hidden hunger and it's quite insidious16. So, what we're attempting to do is to breed the nutrients17 directly into staple foods."

Soaring food prices and grain shortages - which have recently been causing unrest around the globe - have created a new urgency for growing more food. Resistance to genetically-modified crops, which contain genes19 from other organisms, no longer seems to trigger as many protests as in the past.

 

Experts say reliance on these transgenic crops is likely to grow as the need increases for crops bred to withstand drought and other effects of climate change.

"You're really going to have to target things like heat tolerance20, drought tolerance, and also salinity21 or salt tolerance, to make up for some of those negative consequences but also to address the future challenges," says Rosegrant. "To do that, some of that is still going to come through conventional plant breeding, but also I think you're also going to have to see a greater reliance on genetic18 modification22 or transgenics in the future, to get these kinds of traits tailored to the difficult environments that we're going to see," he adds.


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1 technological gqiwY     
adj.技术的;工艺的
参考例句:
  • A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
  • Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。
2 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
3 staple fGkze     
n.主要产物,常用品,主要要素,原料,订书钉,钩环;adj.主要的,重要的;vt.分类
参考例句:
  • Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
  • Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。
4 staples a4d18fc84a927940d1294e253001ce3d     
n.(某国的)主要产品( staple的名词复数 );钉书钉;U 形钉;主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
  • I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句
5 fortified fortified     
adj. 加强的
参考例句:
  • He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
  • The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。
6 nutritional 4HRxN     
adj.营养的,滋养的
参考例句:
  • A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
  • The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。
7 coordinator Gvazk6     
n.协调人
参考例句:
  • The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下,负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
  • How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室?
8 pesticides abb0488ed6905584ea91347395a890e8     
n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 );除害药物
参考例句:
  • vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
  • There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 wane bpRyR     
n.衰微,亏缺,变弱;v.变小,亏缺,呈下弦
参考例句:
  • The moon is on the wane.月亮渐亏。
  • Her enthusiasm for him was beginning to wane.她对他的热情在开始减退。
10 promising BkQzsk     
adj.有希望的,有前途的
参考例句:
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
11 malnutrition kAhxX     
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。
12 zinc DfxwX     
n.锌;vt.在...上镀锌
参考例句:
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
  • Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。
13 edible Uqdxx     
n.食品,食物;adj.可食用的
参考例句:
  • Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
  • This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得,那种吃不得。
14 coalition pWlyi     
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合
参考例句:
  • The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
  • Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。
15 cognitive Uqwz0     
adj.认知的,认识的,有感知的
参考例句:
  • As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大,他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
  • The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。
16 insidious fx6yh     
adj.阴险的,隐匿的,暗中为害的,(疾病)不知不觉之间加剧
参考例句:
  • That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
  • Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。
17 nutrients 6a1e1ed248a3ac49744c39cc962fb607     
n.(食品或化学品)营养物,营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
  • Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
参考例句:
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
19 genes 01914f8eac35d7e14afa065217edd8c0     
n.基因( gene的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因,所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
20 tolerance Lnswz     
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差
参考例句:
  • Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
  • Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。
21 salinity uYvx9     
n.盐分;咸度;盐浓度;咸性
参考例句:
  • In the sea water sampled the salinity is two parts per thousand.在取样的海水中,盐度为千分之二。
  • In many sedimentary basins the salinity of the formation water increases with depth or compaction.在许多沉积盆地中,地层水的含盐量随深度或压实作用而增高。
22 modification tEZxm     
n.修改,改进,缓和,减轻
参考例句:
  • The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的,它需要修改。
  • The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。
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