经济学人下载:农业与营养,隐性饥饿

Agriculture and nutrition农业与营养Hidden hunger隐性饥饿

How much can farming really improve people’s health? 农业到底能为促进人类健康贡献多少？

IN A market in southern Uganda two traders squat behind little piles of sweet potatoes and a sign that says “with extra vitamin A”. A passing shopper complains about the price: 10% more than ordinary sweet potatoes. Yes, say the traders, but they’re better, bred with extra vitamin A. The bargaining goes back and forth, but the struggle to improve the crop has already been won. Since 2007, when an outfit called HarvestPlus began distributing the “biofortified” rootcrop in Uganda and Mozambique, 50,000 farmers have started to plant it or crops like it. Vitamin A intake has soared and the produce commands a premium. The shopper eventually buys some.

乌干达南部的一个市场上，两个小贩蹲坐在一小堆红薯边，一旁的牌子上写着“富含维A”。顾客路过，抱怨价格太贵：比一般红薯贵10%。贵是贵一点，小贩解释道，但是这种红薯更优质，富含更多维A。虽然还要再讨价还价一番，但已经确定的是作物营养价值方面已经有所进步了。自2007年，供应商HarvestPlus开始在乌干达和莫桑比亚销售“生物合成”的块根作物，近5万农户开始种植此类作物。维A含量的显著增多，使得产品价格升高。顾客最终也逐渐开始购买此类农产品。

Nutrition has long been the Cinderella of development. Lack of calories—hunger—is a headline-grabber, particularly as rising food prices push more people towards starvation. But the hidden hunger of micronutrient deficiencies harms even more people and inflicts lasting damage on them and their societies. It, too, worsens as food prices rise: families switch from costly, nutrient-rich, fruit, vegetables and meat to cheaper, nutrient-poor staples.

营养一直以来都是发展中被遗忘的短板，摄入能量不足——饥饿——占领了大大小小报刊的头版，尤其是当食品价格上涨，导致更多的人面临饥饿。然而，缺乏微量元素的隐性饥饿影响着更广泛的人群，并且对人们以及社会造成长期的危害。不仅如此，隐性饥饿还会加速食品价格上涨：很多家庭会从营养丰富的昂贵水果、蔬菜及肉类转向价格便宜但营养价值较低的主食产品。

In 2008 the Copenhagen Business School asked eight eminent economists to imagine they had $75 billion to spend on causes that would most help the world. Five of their top ten involved nutrition: vitamin supplements for children, adding zinc and iodine to salt and breeding extra micronutrients into crops (like those sweet potatoes). Others included girls’ schools and trade liberalisation.

2008年，哥本哈根商学院邀请8位著名的经济学家一同设想如果有750亿美元，将会用到哪些他们认为对世界最有帮助的事业上。十大事业中的前五项就包括营养：儿童补充维生素，食盐加锌和碘以及农作物增加微量元素（如红薯）。其他事业还包括女童教育以及贸易自由化。