联合国国际农业发展基金会主席 Kanayo Nwanze
The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is calling for a “rapid collective response” to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
In the absence of a concerted international response, the affected countries could face a “wave of food crises in the near future,” IFAD said.
In a keynote speech delivered at the symposium held in connection with this year’s 世界粮食奖 in Des Moines, Iowa, IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze noted that the Ebola epidemic has already “seriously disrupted” agricultural production and trade in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, leading to higher food prices. Up to 40% of farms in Sierra Leone have been abandoned as farmers stay home in fear of infection, Nwanze added.
Nwanze 与利比里亚和塞拉利昂的农业部长一起参加了研讨会的新闻发布会。他和部长们强调了迅速应对西非紧急情况以及投资长期农业发展以增强农村地区复原力的重要性。
这些活动是在世界粮食奖的背景下展开的，今年，出生于印度、墨西哥公民的植物科学家 Sanjaya Rajaram 因科学研究导致世界小麦产量增加而获得了这一荣誉。
The prize was initiated in 1986 by Norman E. Borlaug, a renowned U.S. research scientist and Nobel Laureate. During his Nobel Peace Prize lecture in 1970, Bourlaug said: “It is a sad fact that on this earth at this late date there are still two worlds, “the privileged world” and “the forgotten world.”
“Part of IFAD’s message in Des Moines is that Bourlaug’s statement remains all too true – that most of the world’s poor and hungry people live in the often forgotten rural areas of developing countries,” the agency said. “Small-scale farmers and other rural producers provide most of the food in these areas, but farming families are, themselves, highly vulnerable to food insecurity caused by shocks such as the Ebola epidemic and climate change.”
IFAD emphasized that the international community can act to break the cycle of crisis and food insecurity. IFAD believes it is still possible to meet the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population, including its rapidly expanding cities. “But this will only be possible through investments that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of rural people, giving them the tools to lift themselves out of poverty and transform their communities.”