Fighting a Food Crisis (1/2)

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" class="hjdict" word="drought" target=_blank>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.

参考译文：

粮价飞涨使发展中国家不断出现抗议活动。一场导致数人死亡的暴乱后，周六，海地总理下台。

一些粮食生产国已经减少了出口粮食的数量以保证自己的供应。世界银行主席罗伯特·佐利克上周谈到，仅两个月的时间，粮价就飙升了75%左右，这接近历史水平。小麦价格在去年上涨了120%。

农民们正在种植更多的小麦和大米。但是，人口增长使需求增加。利用粮食作物生产生物燃料也是如此。同时，空前上涨的油价也意味着石油基础的肥料、能源和运输业的成本更高。

粮价成本增高也因为在像印度和中国这样经济正在增长的国家中，更多的人食用肉类和乳制品。更多的谷物被用于饲养家畜。天气也加速了价格的增长。例如，主要的小麦出口国澳大利亚正面临干旱。

高粮价对穷人的打击最为严重。康奈尔大学的农业经济学家克里斯托弗·巴瑞特说,许多贫困的农民自己消耗的比他们卖掉的粮食更多。他说在农业研究中需要投入更多。

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