VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-06-28 What's the Best Way to Give Food Aid?

 

AS IT IS 2013-06-28 What's the Best Way to Give Food Aid?

From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is.

Welcome to the show. I’m Caty Weaver¹.

The United States is the leading supplier of food aidaround the world, at a cost of about 1.5 billion dollarsyearly. But critics say the system is slow and inefficient². The United States Congress is considering legislationthat may change how America provides food aid in thefuture.

Today, we have two reports that explore the issue offood aid. Does it work better when the aid is in the form of money? Or shouldsuch aid always be provided as food?

Humanitarian³ agencies in the Sahel area of Africa are struggling to deal with acycle of food crises. The United States government provides about 1.5 billiondollars in traditional food aid. But it is now considering directing as much as 45percent of that aid into newer food aid programs like “cash for work.” Theseprograms pay villagers to work on community improvement projects.

Jim Tedder⁴ reports.

It is market day in Sadio, a village in the Diourbel area of Senegal. It is alsopayday for about 800 people involved in the “Yokkute” program.

The aid organization Catholic Relief Service runs the program. It pays villagersto improve local agricultural and waste and water systems.

Yokkute means resilience in the local Wolof language. The program’s goal is to help Sadio’s population succeed again after years of poor harvests.

Program coordinator⁵ Pape Said says money is better than food for this at-riskcommunity.

“The people can buy the food they’d like to have. But people in need havemore needs than food alone, like healthcare. So with cash they can buy foodbut they can also address their other needs.”

But there can be problems with money as well. Some workers like Gass Kanewant their payment in food or food vouchers⁶. She wants to block familymembers from using her earnings⁷ to buy unnecessary things.

 “We prefer the food because it’s useful for the whole family.”

Catholic Relief Service does not force program participants to buy food withtheir money. However, the group pays workers on market day to help urgethem to choose food purchases.

Local shop owner Waly Faye says he can see the difference in sales.

“This program supports the merchants. Before, it was only between the aidprogram and the beneficiary. So with the Yokkute program, they have broughtin the small shop owners. So, instead of two players, now it’s three.”

Local farmers also profit. They can sell their produce and grain withoutcompetition from imported food. Catholic Relief Service’s Pape Said says theprogram’s workers also are improving crop production.

“In these half-moons, we are correcting the soil, which is mostly sand. So toincrease water retention⁸, we add manure⁹ and compost. Good fertilizationcould double, triple or quadruple the harvests.”

Aid groups are watching to see if the United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment will support more programs like Yokkute in the future.

I’m Jim Tedder.

Food for Peace is a United States aid program. It provides food grown in theUnited States to countries in need. But President Obama’s budget proposalfor 2014 makes some changes to the almost 60-year-old program. It wouldreplace some food shipments with money to purchase food within foreigncountries.

Some aid agencies welcome the proposed changes. But as ChristopherCruise tells us, farmers and millers¹⁰ in the central part of the United States saythe plan would hurt their businesses and cause job losses.

Bill Wykes of Plano, Illinois, is the chairman of the Illinois SoybeanAssociation. He has farmed for almost 40 years. He works the land that hisfamily has owned even longer.

A small amount of what his farm produces has always gone to people in need. The United States government pays him for the goods he provides.

“We’re glad to see it go and be used and help millions of people over the yearsto prevent malnutrition¹¹, starvation and things like that.”

Since the 1950s, food aid from American farms has travelled the world to helpfeed more than three billion people in 150 countries. The government aidprogram is called Food for Peace.

It has been a source of pride for farmers like Mr. Wykes. Many are stronglyopposed to the Obama administration's plan to send money in some casesinstead of farm goods.

“Well, it’s a ridiculous, ridiculous idea. Why not give them the best qualityinstead of trying to provide them with cash to go to a market that does nothave the quality or the commodity that is really needed.”

But the United States secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack, says changes to the program are necessary. He says the food aid process is too slow in manycases.

“The way we currently do business can basically add 11 to 14 weeks of delayin terms of getting food to where it’s needed most in an emergencycircumstance.”

But Dow Didion of Didion Milling in Cambria, Wisconsin, says the changescould result in lost jobs. He says the change could mean dismissals for asmany as 212 of his company’s employees.

“We have a large number of people in this portion of the business fromprocessing to packaging to quality insurance to logistics, so it would impact us in the jobs area.”

The United States government pays Didion Milling to process and packagehundreds of thousands of bags of food aid each month. Dow Didion says thatsends a stronger message to foreign countries than money.

“I don’t feel that cash will have the same impact that a bag that says ‘gift of theUnited States’ will have. We’re concerned about feeding the starving people aquality product and have concerns that if the program turns into a cashprogram, as to what will the money be used for.”

Agricultural and shipping¹² organizations are protesting the proposed changesto Food for Peace to American legislators.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

And that’s As It Is for today. I’m Caty Weaver. What do you think of As It Is?What subjects would you like to hear about on the show? Let us know. Visitour website at learningenglish.voanews.com and click on the Contact Us link.

And remember to tune in at the beginning of the hour Universal Time for thelatest news from the Voice of America

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

5 coordinator   

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？

6 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

7 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

8 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

9 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

10 millers   

n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工

参考例句：

• Millers and bakers sought low grain prices. 磨粉厂主和面包师寻求低廉的谷物价格。 来自辞典例句
• He told me he already been acquainted with the Millers. 他跟我说他同米勒一家已经很熟。 来自互联网

11 malnutrition   

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 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。